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Struggling Stuttgart, Bremen win at German Bundesliga

16 January 2011 04:09 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. German record champion Bayern Munich suffered a late equalizer against Wolfsburg to lose touch to top position on Saturday in Bundesliga, the first division soccer league, APA reports quoting Xinhua News Agency.

At other matches, Bremen earned a last second victory with a terrific shot by Thorsten Frings while 17th positioned, and struggling Stuttgart stunned second positioned Mainz with a winner by Martin Harnik.

With the start of the second half of the season German powerhouse Bayern Munich had to close the gap to leading team Dortmund.

The Bavarians caught Wolfsburg on the hop when they opened the scoring at the seventh minute through youngster striker Thomas Mueller who capitalized on an error by Wolfsburg goalkeeper Diego Benaglio.

Mueller deflected a clearance attempt by Benaglio into the goal to give his team the lead. Bayern controlled the happening on the pitch while Wolfsburg gave the Bavarians the opportunity in the 21st minute to extend the lead as Wolfsburg midfielder Ashkan Dejagah fouled Bayern midfielder Danijel Pranjic inside penalty area.

Defender Philipp Lahm stepped up to convert the penalty for Bayern but, his shot rattled the left inside post. As the match progressed Wolfsburg started to take over meanwhile Bayern faded away.

At the 42nd minute Wolfsburg midfielder Diego netted a direct free kick but referee Manuel Graefe denied the score due to an offside position by midfielder mate Santos Cicero.

However, referee Graefe gave the Wolves the chance to level the score at the additional time of the first half. Wolfsburg midfielder Ashkan Dejagah staged a blatant dive to spring a penalty. But, new starting youngster goalkeeper Thomas Kraft deflected the sloppy to save the neat lead.

After the break, Bayern was unable to hold the pace of Wolfsburg while the latter were unable to overcome Bayern’s well-positioned defence. It had to come the 86th minute, and a black out by Bayern midfielder Bastian Schweinsteiger who lost the ball at the left side of the penalty line.

Defender Marcel Schaefer introduced the equalizer when he assisted defender Sascha Riether who netted the cross from close distance to punish the German record champion for their poor chance conversion.

Wolfsburg slips from 13th to 14th position with 20 points while Bayern remains on fifth position with 30 points.

Struggling Bremen also had to stage a comeback as they are sitting on a disappointing 13th position. Hoffenheim took over from the start of the match while Bremen was only able to threat Hoffenheim with striker Claudio Pizzaro.

With 36 minutes into the match Bremen marked the surprising lead through striker Claudio Pizzaro. Pizzaro controlled a through ball and shrugged off Hoffenheim defender Andreas Iberstsberger to slot the ball home on one on one.

Hoffenheim recovered not until the 87th minute when midfielder Boris Vukcevic hammered the equalizer. Bremen kept it up and shocked Hoffenheim with a last second winner by midfielder Thorsten Frings who netted an indirect free kick from 28 meters at the 92nd minute.

Bremen climbed from 13th to 12th position with 22 points while Hoffenheim occupied the eighth position with 25 points.

The 17th positioned Stuttgart shocked Dortmund chaser Mainz 1-0 thanks to joker striker Martin Harnik who scored the winner of the match at the 78th minute.

Promoted St. Pauli shared points with Freiburg after a two all draw.

Bundesliga bottom team Monchengladbach edged Nuremberg 1-0 to seal three points.

Hamburg striker, and Dutchmen Ruud van Nistelrooy stopped Schalkes winning run when he scored the only goal of the match. Schalke remains on 10th position with 22 points while Hamburg jumps from ninth to seventh position with 27 points. Enditem