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 |
Inter on Sunday were given a letoff when they snatched a late 1-1 derby draw with AC Milan, while league leaders SSC Napoli were held by a late goal at AS Roma. Reigning champions Inter remain three points behind Napoli, who looked to be heading five clear as they led in Rome until Angelino volleyed in a stunning leveler in the first minute of stoppage-time. Angelino’s strike gave even more significance to Stefan de Vrij’s last-gasp equalizer at the San Siro. The defender forced home Nicola Zalewski’s knockdown just as it looked like Tijjani Reijnders’ opener would be enough for Milan. “I can
The Washington Capitals and Winnipeg Jets on Saturday did not disappoint in a thrilling midseason matchup in front of a fired-up sellout crowd of more than 18,500 fans. The top two teams in the NHL delivered with a combined nine goals, including the 877th of Alex Ovechkin’s career to put him 18 back of breaking Wayne Gretzky’s record. That tied the score, the Jets pulled it out in overtime and just about everyone involved got their money’s worth out of the 5-4 game. “We knew how we were both sitting in the standings and both having real good years,” Winnipeg coach Scott
BACK-TO-BACK: The League One club, which is owned by stars Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney, is sparing no expense to clinch promotion to the Championship Hollywood endings are pricey, even in England’s third division. In pursuit of their third straight promotion, Wrexham AFC splashed some cash at League One rival Reading to secure the services of striker Sam Smith. The Welsh club owned by actors Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney confirmed the signing of the 26-year-old Smith on Friday. He is one of the top scorers in the third division. The transfer fee was not disclosed, but British media widely reported it to be about ￡2 million (US$2.48 million) — not extravagant, but a hefty price at this level and it would be about the same figure that
Santiago Castro on Tuesday had an immediate impact off the bench as he scored the goal to send Bologna into the Coppa Italia semi-finals for the first time in 26 years. Bologna won 1-0 against last year’s runners-up, Atalanta BC, and are to play either holders Juventus or Empoli in the final four. Juventus are to host Empoli in their quarter-final on Feb. 26. The last time Bologna reached the semi-finals was in 1999, when they lost 4-2 to ACF Fiorentina. There were chances for both sides in a high-tempo match in Bergamo, but it was Bologna who broke the deadlock 10 minutes from
RSS