Paolo Guerrero scored two goals on Sunday to help Hamburg SV beat Cologne 3-1 and take the lead in the Bundesliga on goal difference from Bayer Leverkusen.
The Peruvian international striker now tops the list of scorers with four goals in four games along with Bayer Leverkusen’s Stefan Kiessling.
In the earlier game, Mesut Oezil scored one goal and set up another in Werder Bremen’s 3-2 win at Hertha Berlin.
PHOTO: AFP
Marko Marin set up two goals for Werder, who jumped to third place in the standings. For Hertha, fourth last season, it was their third straight loss and it dropped them to 16th place.
Hamburg and Leverkusen have 10 points from four games, three points ahead of Bremen, Schalke 04 and Borussia Moenchengladbach.
Guerrero put Hamburg ahead after 19 minutes, seizing on a poor clearance by Cologne’s defense. His second goal in the 66th minute came from a deflected shot.
Cologne, winless and last in the standings, pulled one back in the 76th minute when Adil Chihi unleashed a powerful shot from 25m less than two minutes after coming on as a substitute.
Cologne continued to press, but Hamburg secured the victory from a penalty earned by Ze Roberto following a challenge by goalkeeper Faryd Mondragon.
“There was no contact,” a furious Mondragon said after the game, but Piotr Trochowski scored from the spot to complete the victory.
In Berlin, Werder Bremen’s Oezil scored against the run of play in the 57th minute, only minutes after goalkeeper Tim Wiese had blocked a shot by Hertha Berlin’s Gojko Kacar. Oezil used a fast counterattack to put his team ahead after a pass from Marin.
Tim Borowski doubled the lead in the 74th minute after another move by Marin had left the midfielder wide open to tap the ball in.
Three minutes later, Kacar broke through on the left and set up Lukasz Piszczek for Hertha’s first goal, but Oezil beat Hertha’s defense and passed to the unmarked Naldo, who drove the ball home to make it 3-1. Patrick Ebert scored in injury-time for Hertha.
German Bundesliga
Team | P | GD | PTS | |
1 | Hamburg | 4 | 7 | 10 |
2 | Bayer Leverkusen | 4 | 7 | 10 |
3 | Werder Bremen | 4 | 3 | 7 |
4 | Schalke 04 | 4 | 3 | 7 |
5 | Borussia M’gladbach | 4 | 0 | 7 |
6 | Eintracht Frankfurt | 4 | 1 | 6 |
7 | Wolfsburg | 4 | -1 | 6 |
8 | Bayern Munich | 4 | 2 | 5 |
9 | VfB Stuttgart | 4 | 0 | 5 |
10 | TSG Hoffenheim | 4 | 0 | 5 |
11 | Mainz | 4 | -1 | 5 |
12 | Borussia Dortmund | 4 | -2 | 5 |
13 | Hannover 96 | 4 | 0 | 4 |
14 | VfL Bochum | 4 | -3 | 4 |
15 | SC Freiburg | 4 | -6 | 4 |
16 | Hertha Berlin | 4 | -2 | 3 |
17 | Nurnberg | 4 | -3 | 2 |
18 | Cologne | 4 | -5 | 1 |
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