German Budesliga title favorite Bayern Munich bounced back to their winning way as they defeated VfL Wolfsburg 2-1 on Saturday, ending a run of four matches without a win.
Meanwhile, Werder Bremen stayed within a point of Bayern thanks to a 2-0 win at bottom club Energie Cottbus to extend their unbeaten run in the league to nine games, including seven wins.
In face of around 69,000 fans, German forward Miroslav Klose opened the scoring after 34 minutes, impressive Frenchman Franck Ribery doubled the lead five minutes into the second half.
Klose netted his ninth of the season into an empty net after a mistake by Peter van der Heyden and good work by Ribery.
"We played better especially in the first half and showed a lot of passion," said caption Oliver Kahn.
Ashkan Dejagah pulled one back for Wolfsburg 18 minutes from time, but still failed to salvage the "Wolves" from suffering their third successive defeat.
With the narrow victory, Bayern boast 31 points, continuing their lead in the table of Bundesliga.
Bremen follow up with 30 points. SV Hamburg could draw level with Bremen if they beat visiting Hansa Rostock on Sunday.
At Cottbus, German-born Croatian striker Klasnic lasted 64 minutes for Bremen in his first match for 11 months, long enough to see Brazilian Diego firmly convert a 63rd-minute penalty after Markus Rosenberg had been grappled in the area.
Bremen made sure of the points when Colombian striker John Jairo Mosquero struck his first goal for Bremen in the 83rd minute.
Champions VfB Stuttgart came from behind to defeat Eintracht Frankfurt 4-1 for a fourth successive league win to move seventh.
The home side took a 41st-minute lead through Benjamin Koehler, but Stuttgart hit back through Roberto Hilbert, Ciprian Marica, Thomas Hitzlsperger and Cacau in stoppage time.
Kevin Kuryani celebrated a return from injury with two goals for Schalke 04 in a 3-2 victory at Hanover for whom Hungarian Szabolcs Huszti scored both, the first from the penalty spot.
Substitute Halil Altintop hit the winner for Schalke in the 62nd minute to end a series of five league games without a win.
Fifth-placed Bayer Leverkusen came from a goal down at half-time to defeat struggling MSV Duisburg 4-1 with goals from Sergej Barbarez, Simon Rolfes, Paul Freier (penalty) and TheofanisGekas.
Polish striker Marcin Mieciel struck twice in three minutes in the 12th and 15th minutes as Bochum swept to a 3-0 win over Arminia Bielefeld, Christoph Dabrowski adding the third in the 55th.
On Friday evening, Karlsruhe defeated Hertha Berlin 2-1 to stayfourth. Nuremberg host Borussia Dortmund in Sunday's other match.
Source: Xinhua
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