Germany striker Stefan Kiessling scored twice to help Bayer Leverkusen go third in the Bundesliga on Saturday, while defending champion Bayern Munich has now drawn level with leader Hoffenheim. Bayern is level with Hoffenheim on 34 points after its 2-1 win over the leader in Munich on Friday night, but Leverkusen sneaked into third place, thanks to its 3-1 win over bottom side Borussia Moenchengladbach on Saturday. First-half goals by Kiessling put Leverkusen into a 2-0 lead at half-time and it never looked back as his international teammate Patrick Helmes added a strike early in the second-half. But ‘Gladbach's teenagers managed a consolation goal when Germany midfielder Marko Marin fired in a free-kick which 18-year-old Tony Jantschke, making his Bundesliga debut, headed home to make it 3-1. Hertha Berlin, who had won its previous three straight Bundesliga games, was beaten 1-0 at Schalke 04 to drop to fourth and yield third to Leverkusen after Gerald Asamoah scored a second-half goal for the Royal Blues. Greece striker Nikos Liberopoulos scored two first-half goals, equalizing with a penalty and added a header to help lift Eintracht Frankfurt up to 11th after its 4-0 win over VfL Bochum. And two goals in two second-half minutes from midfielder Markus Steinhoefer and defender Marco Russ sealed the rout. VfB Stuttgart's new coach Markus Babbel has now won his first two games in charge after taking over from Armin Veh as his side strolled to a 3-0 win at Energie Cottbus thanks to an opening first-half goal from Roberto Hilbert. And Stuttgart's Czech Republic midfielder Jan Simak made the result safe with some ice-cool finishing in the second-half before Sami Khedira also scored to make the result safe at 3-0. The defeat leaves Cottbus just above the relegation zone, while Stuttgart are up to eighth. There was more frustration for struggling Werder Bremen who was beaten 1-0 at Karlsruhe after Stefan Buck fired home off Bremen goalkeeper Tim Wiese in the game's dying stages. And adding insult to injury in injury time, Bremen was reduced to ten men when former Chelsea striker Claudio Pizarro was shown a straight red for striking his marker Martin Stoll. The defeat drops Bremen to ninth in the table. Midtable Arminia Bielefeld and Borussia Dortmund took a point each as they ground out a goalless draw. Bordeaux third Bordeaux beat Valenciennes 2-1 to climb into provisional third place in the French league on Friday. The win took Bordeaux onto 29 points from 17 rounds, five points behind leader Lyon, which has played a game less.
