Heung Min Son (r.) and Stefan Kießling (c.) were on target as Leverkusen comfortably beat Nürnberg...
Heung Min Son (r.) and Stefan Kießling (c.) were on target as Leverkusen comfortably beat Nürnberg...

Bayer back on track, thriller in Sinsheim

xwhatsappmailcopy-link

Munich - Bayer 04 Leverkusen went some way to erasing the memory of their 5-0 defeat to Manchester United FC in midweek after easing to a comfortable win against 1. FC Nürnberg. Elsewhere 1899 Hoffenheim and SV Werder Bremen shared the spoils in an eight-goal thriller, while FC Augsburg held Hertha Berlin to a goalless draw in the capital.

Bayer 04 Leverkusen 3-0 1. FC Nürnberg

bundesliga.com rounds up the best of the rest of Saturday's Matchday 14 action...

Leverkusen looked to still be reeling from their embarrassing defeat at home to Manchester United in the UEFA Champions League in the early stages against der Club. There was little incision to their normally fast-paced passing game, and they hardly tested Raphael Schäfer in the Nürnberg goal.

Indeed it was the visitors who actually came closest to opening the scoring, with Makoto Hasebe being denied by the post. Gertjan Verbeek’s men were then slightly unfortunate to see the hosts take the lead, as Heung Min Son applied a controlled finish to Gonzalo Castro’s pull-back.

Kießling strikes


Nürnberg might have felt slightly unlucky to be trailing at the break, but they were given a mountain to climb immediately after the restart as Stefan Kießling netted with a low strike after collecting Jen Hegeler’s deft touch. Daniel Ginczek led the fightback with two deflected efforts, but the wind was taken well and truly out of the Franconians' sails by Son, who collected another good pass from Castro and finished clinically.

It was a welcome return to form for Bayer after their mauling in Europe, and they remain second in the table. Nürnberg, meanwhile, continue to wait for a first league win of the campaign.

Line-ups and statistics

1899 Hoffenheim 4-4 Werder Bremen


Hoffenheim were well beaten in their last game away in Augsburg, but they delivered on coach Markus Gisdol’s desire to see a response against Bremen and stormed into a two-goal lead. After Roberto Firmino had gone close early on, Sejad Salihovic stroked home two penalties - the second a delightful chip - after sloppy fouls from Santiago Garcia and Cedric Makiadi.

Salihovic missed out on his hat-trick by curling a free-kick wide, but there was to be a sting in the first-half tail as Bremen sensationally hit back with two goals within a minute. Aaron Hunt halved the deficit with the game’s third penalty, before his cross then somehow found Eljero Elia for an open goal on the half-time whistle.

Raining goals


If the end of the first half was dramatic, the same was true immediately after the break. Another two goals allowed Hoffenheim to wrestle back control of the game as Kevin Volland’s header and a Kai Herdling curler made it 4-2, before Nils Petersen amazingly made it 4-3 with only 58 minutes played.

Only after the seventh goal did the game begin to calm down after such a frenetic opening hour, with Hoffenheim keen to consolidate their narrow advantage. They looked to have secured the points when Koen Casteels denied Petersen in added time, but Werder had the last laugh as, from the resulting corner, Philipp Bargfrede drilled in to make it 4-4 with his first-ever Bundesliga goal.

Line-ups and statistics

Hertha Berlin 0-0 FC Augsburg


Berlin coach Jos Luhukay lacked no motivation for the visit of the club he led into the Bundesliga in 2011 and his players hit their stride early on against the Bavarians. Adrian Ramos saw a deflected volley drift wide, before Marcel Ndjeng, also playing against his former employers, crossed for Änis Ben-Hatira to flash an effort narrowly off-target.

There was little to be seen in the way of attacking football from the away side, save for one or two well-flighted free-kicks from Tobias Werner, and it was Hertha that finished the first half the stronger, with Marvin Hitz saving Ndjeng’s near-post shot with an agile parry.

Scrappy


The first half had hardly been high on goalmouth action, but there was even less to speak of in the second period as defences dominated. Set pieces looked to be the only way a goal would arrive, and Ben-Hatira sent in some good deliveries, but the Augsburg defence held firm, with Jan-Ingwer Callsen-Bracker in particular preserving the scoreline by foul means or fair.

The final minutes wound down with neither side possessing the craft, guile or indeed luck to find a winner. The point makes it two straight clean sheets for Augsburg, while Berlin have now failed to score in their last two encounters.

Line-ups and statistics

Bernie Reeves