Berlin, Sep 1 (IANS) Hamburg crushed newly promoted Braunschweig 3-0 to secure the first win of the football season while Hannover and Monchengladbach celebrated goal festivals on home soil in the fourth round of Bundesliga.
Hamburg broke the negative spell of three winless matches Saturday as they defeated Braunschweig to climb out of the Bundesliga basement, reports Xinhua.
The hosts got a bright start thanks to the early opener by Dutch international Rafael van der Vaart, who poked home a deflected pass from very close range in the seventh minute. Hamburg doubled the lead 10 minutes later as new arrival Jacques Zoua made use of Maximilian Beister’s build-up play to mark into the open goal.
The 2-0 lead gave the hosts more confidence but had to wait till the 80th minute before they could score another goal to their lead through youngster substitute Hakan Calhanoglu.
The midfielder sealed his brace just before the full time whistle when he curled a free kick from 18 metres into the top left corner to mark the final score. Braunschweig still wait for their first win in Germany’s top flight whereas Hamburg turned around to comfort coach Thorsten Fink.
Elsewhere, Monchengladbach inflicted Bremen a hammering 4-1 loss to wrap the second win of the season. Bremen staged a well-positioned defence in the first half but the offensively orientated Foals broke the deadlock through Juan Arango, who tapped in Granit Xhaka’s cross (36th minute).
Bremen’s defence collapsed in the second half as Monchengladbach added three goals to their lead within 45 minutes. Raffael utilised a rebound to double the lead from close distance (53rd).
However, Havard Nordtveit’s own goal for Monchengladbach sparked Bremen’s hopes of a comeback but all their hopes were destroyed by Max Kruse, who restored the lead when he made it 3-1 (74th). The Foals were not done with the scoring as Patrick Herrmann extended the lead to 4-1 with five minutes remaining.
Schalke wrapped up their first win of the season as they overcame Leverkusen 2-0 owing to goals by Marco Hoeger and Jefferson Farfan.
Hannover came from behind to stun Mainz 4-1 to bring their three match winning streak to an end.
Newly promoted Berlin suffered their first loss of the season losing 0-2 to Wolfsburg. Ivica Olic and Diego secured the second win of the campaign for the Wolves.
