Hamburg keep pressure on leaders Hertha

Hamburg put themselves back in the Bundesliga title race on Sunday with a 2-0 win over Energie Cottbus to join the three-strong pack chasing leaders Hertha Berlin.

Two goals in seven first-half minutes from Croatia striker Ivica Olic and a free-kick by Germany winger Piotr Trochowski mean Hamburg finish the weekend fourth, but level on 45 points with second-placed Bayern Munich and Wolfsburg with Hertha on 49 points.

"That was a hard-earned win, it wasn't pretty, but it was important for us," said Hamburg coach Martin Jol.

Olic struck with a header on 32 minutes which gave Cottbus goalkeeper Gerhard Tremmel no chance before Trochowski caught Tremmel out with a freekick from 22 metres out on 39 minutes to keep Cottbus in the bottom three.

Hamburg will be without Croatian striker Mladen Petric for a few weeks after he damaged a thigh muscle in the game.

"I took a knock to the muscle and I will have to sit out for the next two or three weeks," said Petric who has scored ten goals this season.

Werder Bremen picked up their first league win of 2009 when they humbled Stuttgart 4-0 and inflicted the first defeat in ten games for VfB coach Markus Babbel as Bremen's Sweden striker Markus Rosenberg struck twice.

The defeat leaves Stuttgart sixth while Bremen are tenth.

On Saturday, Hertha Berlin's hot-shot striker Andrei Voronin scored his eighth goal in six games to keep the leaders four points clear at the top with a 1-0 win over Bayer Leverkusen.

The 29-year-old, on loan from Premier League side Liverpool, followed up last week's hat-trick against Energie Cottbus with a goal on 50 minutes which contained some good fortune.

After firing his shot at Leverkusen's Germany goalkeeper Rene Adler, the ball came off the 'keepers out-stretched leg only to bounce off Voronin's chest into the empty net.

Hertha's recent run has boosted attendance at Berlin's Olympic Stadium and a crowd of 58,753 saw the win over Leverkusen.

"We are very pleased with the win - Leverkusen are one of the best teams in Germany," said Hertha coach Lucien Favre.

"They were better than us in the first half, we tried more after the break, but it was still very tight at the end."

After their Champions League heroics in midweek, when they sealed a 12-1 aggregate win over Sporting Lisbon, Bayern Munich are second as they had few problems beating ten-man Bochum 3-0 away from home.

But the win has cost Bayern the services of Germany striker Miroslav Klose who will miss the next two weeks after having ankle surgery on Sunday for damaged ligaments.

The 30-year-old, the top scorer at the 2006 World Cup, faces a race against time to be fit for Bayern's Champions League quarter-final next month.

On Friday, Brazilian striker Grafite scored a hat-trick to help VfL Wolfsburg beat Schalke 04 4-3 to put his side up to third as the hosts remain unbeaten this season.





The People's Liberation Army band plays at the end of China's annual parliamentary session in Beijing. AFP/Peter Parks