Former Germany striker Kevin Kuranyi headed a last-minute goal to seal the 3-3 draw that denied 10-man Hamburg the chance to go top of the Bundesliga on Sunday.
Kuranyi’s 90th-minute header sealed Schalke 04’s fight back from 2-0 down after Hamburg striker Markus Berg had put his side 3-2 up on 80 minutes despite the dismissal of defender David Rozehnal with an hour gone.
“For the fans, it must have been a great game, a feast of football, but for us it was very disappointing,” Hamburg captain Piotr Trochowski said. “We fought back with 10 men to go 3-2 up, so to concede the equalizer right at the end was very hard to take.”
PHOTO: REUTERS
The draw in Schalke keeps Hamburg second in the table behind leaders Bayer Leverkusen, who drew 1-1 with Borussia Dortmund on Friday.
Hamburg opened the scoring when Berg slotted home from 8m out after midfielder Eljero Elia darted down the flank and into the penalty area, before squaring and the Swede drilled his shot home.
Trochowski launched his free-kick from almost 30m out to extend the guests’ lead.
Schalke fought back through Kuranyi’s 50th-minute goal, however, and when Hamburg’s David Rozehnal then brought the striker down when he was through on goal, the Czech defender was shown a straight red on 60 minutes.
Midfielder Lukas Schmitz headed home from the resulting free-kick to equalize on 62 minutes for Schalke to level the scores.
Berg hit his second of the game, however, when midfielder Ze Roberto threaded a pass through the Schalke defense and Berg smashed his shot home with 10 minutes to go, which looked to have fired Hamburg top before Kuranyi broke the guests’ hearts.
Werder Bremen are third after their 4-1 win over VfL Bochum, despite conceding the fastest goal of the season inside a minute as three touches saw Stanislav Sestak put his side ahead.
Bremen fought back, however, with goals from Aaron Hunt, Marko Marin, Tim Borowski and Mesut Oezil.
Earlier, Bundesliga bottom club Hertha Berlin earned their first league point since the opening day of the season when they held defending champions Wolfsburg to a goalless draw at home.
Hertha had lost all eight league games since beating Hannover 1-0 at Berlin’s Olympic Stadium on Aug. 8 and new coach Friedhelm Funkel picked up his first point in charge since replacing Lucien Favre, but his side are still four points from safety.
German Bundesliga
Team | P | GD | PTS | |
1 | Bayer Leverkusen | 10 | 13 | 22 |
2 | Hamburg | 10 | 11 | 22 |
3 | Werder Bremen | 10 | 13 | 21 |
4 | Schalke 04 | 10 | 7 | 20 |
5 | Bayern Munich | 10 | 8 | 18 |
6 | TSG Hoffenheim | 10 | 9 | 17 |
7 | Wolfsburg | 10 | 2 | 17 |
8 | Mainz | 10 | 1 | 17 |
9 | Eintracht Frankfurt | 10 | -2 | 13 |
10 | Borussia Dortmund | 10 | -4 | 13 |
11 | Hannover 96 | 10 | 1 | 12 |
12 | SC Freiburg | 10 | -8 | 10 |
13 | Cologne | 10 | -4 | 9 |
14 | VfB Stuttgart | 10 | -5 | 8 |
15 | Borussia M’gladbach | 10 | -8 | 8 |
16 | Nurnberg | 10 | -8 | 8 |
17 | VfL Bochum | 10 | -11 | 8 |
18 | Hertha Berlin | 10 | -21 | 4 |
BUMRAH WATCH: Captain Jasprit Bumrah left the SCG for scans for back spasms and although he returned to the ground, there was no word on if he would play Rishabh Pant’s blistering counterattack yesterday capped a chaotic second day of the fifth and final Test between Australia and India, with 15 wickets falling and the star bowler of the series leaving the Sydney Cricket Ground with an ambulance escort. Yet the Border-Gavaskar trophy still remains very much in the balance as India reached 141-6, holding a 145-run lead over Australia with three days remaining. “Low-scoring games like this, it just heightens the pressure within it, so long way still to go,” Australia coach Andrew McDonald said. “There’s gonna be plenty of cricket, so we’ll see what happens.” Australia were bowled out for
Elena Rybakina’s Kazakhstan yesterday dumped defending champions Germany out of the United Cup with world No. 2 Alexander Zverev sidelined by an arm injury barely a week away from the Australian Open. The upset in Perth sent the Kazakhs into the semi-finals of the 18-nation tournament. In Sydney, women’s world No. 2 Iga Swiatek led Poland into the last eight by winning a rematch of her 2023 French Open final against Karolina Muchova of the Czech Republic. Britain also progressed to the quarter-finals with Katie Boulter’s dominant 6-2, 6-1 victory over Australia’s Olivia Gadecki enough to guarantee they won their group. The US and
HAT-TRICK PREP: World No. 1 Sabalenka clinched her first win of the season, as she aims to become the first woman in 20 years to win three Australian Opens in succession Coco Gauff, Jasmine Paolini and Taylor Fritz yesterday all clocked impressive wins as tennis powerhouses Italy and the US surged into the quarter-finals of the mixed-team United Cup. World No. 3 Gauff swept past Croatia’s Donna Vekic 6-4, 6-2 to avenge a loss at the Paris Olympics, while Fritz took care of Borna Coric 6-3, 6-2 in searing Perth heat. That was enough to put the Americans — last year’s winners — into a last-eight clash with China today, while Elena Rybakina’s Kazakhstan today are to meet defending champions Germany, led by Alexander Zverev, in the other Perth quarter-final. In Sydney, the in-form
Five-time Grand Slam champion Iga Swiatek yesterday beat Elena Rybakina in straight sets to take Poland into the final of the mixed-teams United Cup with victory over Kazakhstan. Last year’s runners-up face the US today for the title in Sydney after they beat the Czech Republic in the other semi-final. “This win makes me really proud,” Swiatek said after seeing off Rybakina 7-6 (7/5), 6-4 to give Poland an unassailable 2-0 lead in the tie. It was a statement of intent from the world number two with the first major of the year to start on Jan. 12. “It is perfect preparation for the
RSS