Werder Bremen thumped Bayer Leverkusen 5-2 on Saturday to move level on points with tiring leaders Bayern Munich at the halfway stage of the season.

Bayern did just enough to hold on to top spot, and claim the honorary title of ‘winter champions’, with a goalless draw away to Hertha Berlin.

They now lead Werder only by goal difference, though, after Thomas Schaaf’s side recovered from their Champions League exit in midweek by clinching a great comeback win.

The highlights for the crowd were two goals from Ivan Klasnic, the Croatian striker who recently returned after two kidney transplant operations this year.

The results put both Bayern and Werder on 36 points from 17 matches, four ahead of third-placed Hamburg SV, after they needed a last-gasp equaliser from Ivica Olic to grab a 1-1 draw away to Karlsruhe.

Leverkusen stay fourth on 30 points, with Schalke 04 up to fifth a point further back after they won 2-1 at home to Nuremberg.

After Sunday’s remaining two matches, the Bundesliga takes a break until Feb. 1, by which time Bayern will hope to have recovered their sharpness.

BAYERN HELD

This was their second successive goalless draw and once again they looked …

Werder Bremen jumped to the top of the Bundesliga table ahead of Bayern Munich on Saturday with a 2-1 home victory over Hamburg SV, capping a fine week after their 3-2 win against Real Madrid in the Champions League.

Ivory Coast striker Boubacar Sanogo put Werder in front in the 15th minute on a soggy pitch, taking a through ball from Croatia midfielder Jurica Vranjes on the left and beating Hamburg goalkeeper Frank Rost with a crisp shot to the far post.

Hamburg got the equaliser against the run of play just past the hour when Rafael van der Vaart capitalised on a blunder from keeper Christian Vander. His attempt to clear went straight to the Dutch midfielder, who lobbed a shot back over Vander’s head.

Werder got back in front three minutes later through a Rost error.

Finland defender Petri Pasanen had tried to send in a cross from the right but Hamburg defender Vincent Kompany got a leg to it, deflecting it high before it tucked into the near corner.

Werder now lead for the first time this season with 33 points. Bayern, who play on Sunday at Arminia Bielefeld, are second on 31 points and Hamburg third …

France midfielder Franck Ribery set up one goal and scored the other to lead Bayern Munich to a 2-1 home win over VfL Wolfsburg and their former Bayern coach Felix Magath in the Bundesliga on Saturday.

Ribery’s dazzling performance helped Bayern recover from their first loss of the season in all competitions, a 3-1 defeat at VfB Stuttgart last time out and maintain their one-point lead over Werder Bremen, who won 2-0 at Energie Cottbus.

Germany striker Miroslav Klose got his ninth league goal of the season before a sell-out crowd of 69,000 at the Allianz Arena steering home a Ribery cross in the 35th minute.

Ribery had beaten three Wolfsburg defenders before lofting the ball over to Klose, who pulled level with team mate Luca Toni as the Bundesliga’s leading scorer.

Ribery, the key to Bayern’s strong start this season, then scored his third goal since moving to Munich in the close season in the 50th minute, beating keeper Simon Jentzsch at the end of a break he had engineered with Hamit Altintop.

Wolfsburg, whose coach Magath was sacked by Bayern in January despite winning four titles in 2-1/2 years, got one back 19 minutes from time. Ashkan Dejagah …

Germany and Wales played out a goalless draw in their final Euro 2008 qualifier on Wednesday. Germany, long since assured of qualifying for the finals along with Group D winners Czech Republic, created a handful of good chances in the first half but the match petered out after the break.

Wales, with nothing riding on the game, competed well enough but rarely threatened Jens Lehmann’s goal. The closest they came was in the 35th minute when Carl Fletcher flashed a shot wide from outside the area. Germany had already wasted the game’s best opportunities by that stage.

Lukas Podolski cracked over a shot from a good position in the 10th minute, Tim Borowski hit a post soon afterwards and Mario Gomez planted a header wide from close range after Philipp Lahm had picked him out with a cross from the left.…

Champions VfB Stuttgart handed Bayern Munich their first defeat of the season on Saturday, beating the Bundesliga leaders 3-1.

Germany striker Mario Gomez scored in the 10th and 42nd minutes and Turkey midfielder Yildiray Basturk grabbed his first goal for the club in the 30th as Stuttgart raced 3-0 up at halftime.

Bayern, playing less than 48 hours after their 2-2 UEFA Cup draw with Bolton Wanderers, had conceded only four goals in their 12 previous league matches.

Italy striker Luca Toni pulled one back for the visitors with four minutes to go, tapping in his ninth league goal of the season.

Stuttgart’s second win in a row lifted them from 11th to eighth in the table.

To add to Bayern’s woes, Brazil defender Lucio was sent off with 20 minutes to go for elbowing Swiss Ludovic Magnin.

Bayern, who had been unbeaten in all competitions this season, are still top of the table on 28 points, one in front of Werder Bremen who crushed Karlsruhe 4-0 with two goals by Brazil midfielder Diego and one apiece from Hugo Almeida and Naldo.

Hamburg SV slipped to third, also on 27 points, after a 1-1 draw at Schalke 04.

Stuttgart also …

Germany coach Joachim Loew has called up newcomers Jermaine Jones and Serdar Tasci to his 24-man squad for their final two Euro 2008 qualifiers.

Germany, who have already qualified for next year’s finals, host Cyprus in Hanover on Nov. 17 and Wales in Frankfurt on Nov. 21 in Group D.

Loew also recalled two key players returning from injury, Bayern Munich defender Philipp Lahm and Werder Bremen midfielder Tim Borowski.

Also back after long absences are striker Oliver Neuville of second division side Borussia Moenchengladbach and Hanover 96 striker Mike Hanke.

Loew will be without injured midfielders Torsten Frings, Bernd Schneider, Michael Ballack and David Odonkor as well as striker Kevin Kuranyi.

Germany and the Czech Republic have already secured the two qualifying spots from the group. Both have 23 points from 10 matches.

Squad:

Goalkeepers: Robert Enke (Hanover 96), Timo Hildebrand (Valencia), Jens Lehmann (Arsenal)

Defenders: Gonzalo Castro (Bayer Leverkusen), Arne Friedrich (Hertha Berlin), Manuel Friedrich (Bayer Leverkusen), Marcell Jansen (Bayern Munich), Philipp Lahm (Bayern Munich), Per Mertesacker (Werder Bremen), Christoph Metzelder (Real Madrid), Serdar Tasci (VfB Stuttgart)

Midfielders: Tim Borowski (Werder Bremen), Clemens Fritz (Werder Bremen), Roberto Hilbert (VfB Stuttgart), Thomas Hitzlsperger (VfB Stuttgart), Jermaine Jones (Schalke 04), …

Bayern Munich coach Ottmar Hitzfeld has hit back at club president Karl-Heinz Rummenigge for publicly questioning his decisions in Thursday’s 2-2 home draw against Bolton Wanderers in the UEFA Cup.

Rummenigge had criticised Hitzfeld for replacing key players such as Franck Ribery and Bastian Schweinsteiger for the final half hour with Bayern leading 2-1.

Hitzfeld explained on Friday that he wanted to rest the pair ahead of a Bundesliga match at VfB Stuttgart on Saturday.

‘I hope I know the basic maths of football and I try to apply that,’ said Hitzfeld, who studied mathematics at university.

‘I’m really annoyed,’ Rummenigge had told journalists after the draw.

‘It would have been very easy to win this one and advance. The spectators have a right to see the best team play. Football is not mathematics. You can’t calculate everything.’

Hitzfeld said he did not want to directly comment on Rummenigge’s remarks.

‘I believe that I found the right mixture so that we can win in Stuttgart,’ he said, adding he wanted to rotate some of the players to prevent injuries.

‘It was a reasonable decision. We need to get back on track at Stuttgart after two league draws.’

Hitzfeld also said …

Bolton turned back the clock with a marvellous display of grit and determination to rock the unbeaten Bundesliga leaders in the UEFA Cup.

Without the likes of Nicolas Anelka, El-Hadji Diouf and Ivan Campo, it was expected to be a walk in the park for Bayern. Instead Bolton under new manager Gary Megson claimed a point with the kind of work ethic which was the trademark of former boss Sam Allardyce. Kevin Davies secured a point with his first goal of the season with eight minutes remaining to stun the home crowd.

A brace from Lukas Podolski had put Bayern in the driving seat after Ricardo Gardner had made the breakthrough.

Former Leicester boss Megson will surely take a number of positives from this performance not least of all goalkeeper Ali Al Habsi’s display. The Oman shot-stopper in only his second appearance for the club made a string of superb saves. Bolton also showed a never-say-die attitude after taking the lead in the eighth minute following a long throw from Kevin Nolan. Danny Guthrie chipped it forward and the ball eventually broke to Gardner. The Jamaican’s effort went in off the bar after taking a deflection. Gardner last found the …