Hot-shot striker Andrei Voronin scored his eighth goal in six games to keep Hertha Berlin four points clear at the top of the Bundesliga on Saturday with a 1-0 win over Bayer Leverkusen.
The 29-year-old is on loan from side Liverpool, but Hertha will be in no hurry to give him back after he followed up last week’s hat-trick against Energie Cottbus with the goal which claimed three points.
PHOTO: AP
His goal after 50 minutes contained some good fortune after Leverkusen’s Germany goalkeeper Rene Adler went to kick the ball away, only for it to rebound off Voronin’s chest into the net to claim his 11th goal in 20 games.
Hertha’s recent run has boosted attendance at Berlin’s Olympic Stadium and a crowd of 58,753 saw the win over Leverkusen.
After their Champions League heroics in midweek, when they sealed a 12-1 aggregate win over Sporting Lisbon, Bayern Munich are second as they had few problems beating Bochum 3-0 away.
“From our point of view, it is very pleasing that we travel home with this result,” said Bayern coach Jurgen Klinsmann, who is waiting on the fitness of striker Miroslav Klose who limped off with an ankle injury.
After an excellent first-half strike by Ze Roberto after 34 minutes, things got worse for Bochum when Marc Pfertzel was shown a red card for hauling down Bayern striker Jose Ernesto Sosa when he was clean through on goal.
Lukas Podolski missed the resulting penalty on 48 minutes.
But Bayern extended their lead through a Philipp Lahm goal on 60 minutes and Martin Demichelis scored the third on 90 minutes.
Hoffenheim were held to a 1-1 draw at Eintracht Frankfurt.
A goal by Carlos Eduardo after ten minutes was cancelled out by a header from Frankfurt’s Michael Fink to leave Hoffenheim six points off leaders Hertha.
At Hanover the home side drew 4-4 with Borussia Dortmund while Borussia Moechengladbach eased their relegation worries with a 4-2 win at Cologne.
Karlsruhe are now three points off the pace at the foot of the table after they were beaten 1-0 at home by Arminia Bielefeld.
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
MLB on Friday announced a formal investigation into the scandal swirling around Shohei Ohtani and his former interpreter amid charges that the Los Angeles Dodgers superstar was the victim of “massive theft.” The Dodgers on Wednesday fired Ippei Mizuhara, Ohtani’s long-time interpreter and close friend, after Ohtani’s representatives alleged that the Japanese two-way star had been the victim of theft, which was reported to involve millions of dollars and link Mizuhara to a suspected illegal bookmaker in California. “Major League Baseball has been gathering information since we learned about the allegations involving Shohei Ohtani and Ippei Mizuhara from the news media,” MLB