Hamburg SV and Bayer Leverkusen both drew on Sunday to maintain a three-point lead in the Bundesliga.
Hamburg, who are top on goal difference, drew 1-1 at Eintracht Frankfurt as both teams remained undefeated.
Leverkusen were held to a 0-0 draw at home by Werder Bremen.
PHOTO: REUTERS
In the third game on Sunday, promoted Freiburg got two goals from Ivica Banovic to win 4-0 at Hertha Berlin.
Hertha, who led the standings at one point last season and nearly qualified for the Champions League, lost their fifth straight game and remain bottom.
Hamburg struck early after a free-kick from Piotr Trochowski. Eintracht Frankfurt goalkeeper Oka Nikolov parried his shot from 18m, but Mladen Petric headed the ball to Ze Roberto, who nodded it in from close range in the ninth minute.
Another header from Joris Mathijsen from a corner went just wide as Hamburg dominated the early action.
Eintracht rallied in the 32nd minute with a clever move. Nikos Liberopoulos chipped a ball to Alexander Meier, he headed down to Marco Russ, whose volley went through the legs of Hamburg goalkeeper Frank Rost into the net.
Jonathan Pitroipa shot wide after a mix-up in Frankfurt’s defense between Russ and Aleksandar Vasoski as Hamburg stepped up the pressure after the break.
While Hamburg besieged Eintracht’s goal, Meier nearly scored the winner in the final minute with a header that went wide.
“Based on the second half, we should have won the match,” Hamburg coach Bruno Labbadia said.
Eintracht coach Michael Skibbe concurred.
“I agree, we were not able to keep up with them,” Skibbe said.
Tony Kroos wasted a big opportunity for Bayer Leverkusen, while for Werder Bremen, Marko Marin’s shot at the Leverkusen goal was saved by Rene Adler.
Arturo Vidal missed Leverkusen’s best chance in the second half as both teams took few risks late in the game and appeared happy to settle for a point.
In Berlin, Banovic scored twice and also set up a goal to lead Freiburg past Hertha Berlin.
Cedric Makiadi and Mohamadou Idrissou also scored for Freiburg, who were 3-0 up at halftime.
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