Leverkusen spend Christmas at the top but Bayern lurk

HAMBURG - Bayer Leverkusen will spend the winter break at the top of the German Bundesliga thanks to a hard-fought 3-2 win gainst Borussia Moenchengladbach.

Toni Kroos netted twice for Leverkusen Saturday to guarantee Jupp Heynckes’ side the title of ‘autumn champions’, the honour given to the side that tops the table at the halfway stage of the season.

Bayern Munich, meanwhile, stayed within two points of the summit with a 5-2 demolition of bottom club Hertha Berlin.

Goals from Daniel van Buyten, Mario Gomez, Arjen Robben, Thomas Mueller and Ivica Olic see Louis van Gaal’s side move up to third on 33 points, two behind Leverkusen and one adrift of Schalke 04, who enjoyed a 1-0 victory over Mainz 05 in the Friday night game.

Van Buyten opened the scoring with a free header from a Holger Badstuber corner on 16 minutes, and the Hertha Berlin defence continued in its generous mood shortly after the half-hour mark when Gomez was able to tap home unchallenged from six metres.

Robben made it 3-0 two minutes later after Hertha goalkeeper Jaroslav Drobny could only parry a Gomez shot into the path of the Dutchman.

Robben then set up Mueller to make it four on the hour mark and although Adrian Ramos did manage to pull one back for Hertha 19 minutes from time, Ivica Olic made it five on 77 minutes. Raffael managed to net a second consolation effort and make it 5-2 shortly before full-time.

“I’m delighted with the way this victory was secured,” said van Gaal. “Now we can have a quiet Christmas.”

While Bayern cruised to victory against a Hertha side that remains six points adrift at the bottome, Leverkusen had a much sterner task at home to Gladbach, who went into the game having won four of their last six matches.

Kroos put Leverkusen in front on 18 minutes after being set up by Sami Hyppia but Roel Brouwers levelled matters for Gladbach eight minutes before the break.

Danthe then stunned the home crowd to put Gladbach ahead on 54 minutes, bundling home from close range.

However, the lead lasted just six minutes before Eren Derdiyok netted from 11 metres to make it 2-2. Kroos then ensured Leverkusen of top stop with his second of the game on 69 minutes.

“The autumn title has no significance but it is a nice end to a fantastic first half of the season,” said Leverkusen CEO Wolfgang Holzhaeuser.

Borussia Dortmund sit fourth on 30 points thanks to a 1-0 win against SC Freiburg. Lucas Barrios scored the only goal of the game in the 19th minute to register his ninth goal of the season and stretch Dortmund’s unbeaten run in the Bundesliga to seven games.

“I’m very, very happy,” said Dortmund coach Juergen Klopp. “We didn’t want to disturb anything today and we achieved that in an excellent fashion.”

Defending champions VfL Wolfsburg lost further ground on the leaders after only drawing 2-2 with Eintracht Frankfurt while Hanover 96 threw away a two-goal lead to end up losing 3-2 at home to VfL Bochum.

VfB Stuttgart enjoyed a 3-1 victory over Hoffenheim, who finished the game with 10 men following the dismissal of Luiz Gustavo for a second bookable offence.