Werder Bremen moved out of the relegation zone after Per Mertesacker equalized in a fiery 1-1 draw at home to Hannover 96 in the Bundesliga on Sunday.
The defender’s header in the 50th minute canceled out a strike from Didier Ya Konan to leave Bremen 14th in the standings, one point above relegation danger.
Hannover remain fourth with 38 points, 14 behind leaders Borussia Dortmund.
Earlier, Lukas Podolski and Milivoje Novakovic each scored twice as Cologne beat FSV Mainz 05 4-2 for a fourth straight win at home.
Cologne climbed out of relegation trouble to move to 13th place, while Mainz dropped to fifth.
Hannover took the lead against the run of play in the 26th minute with Ya Konan’s 11th goal of the season. The striker beat a weak challenge from Mikael Silvestre to reach Jan Schlaudraff’s cross, before firing low across goal past Sebastian Mielitz.
Mertesacker rose high above Karim Haggui to equalize with a header shortly after the interval.
Both sides pressed for the winner and Mielitz produced an impressive save in the 80th minute to deny Lars Stindl in a one-on-one.
The Bremen goalkeeper produced an even better save three minutes later, when he rushed out to take the ball away from Schlaudraff’s feet.
Hannover goalkeeper Ron-Robert Zieler made a mistake with five minutes remaining when he carried the ball outside the area, but Marin blasted Werder’s free-kick high.
Manuel Schmiedebach cut down Marin with an ugly challenge just before the final whistle, leading to angry confrontations.
Podolski opened the scoring for Cologne in the third minute, when his free-kick from 35m was missed by Martin Lanig and bounced before ending in Heinz Mueller’s net.
Sami Allagui equalized in the 31st minute, but Cologne restored the advantage in the 43rd. Mueller made a stunning save from Lanig’s header off a free-kick from Christian Clemens, only for Novakovic to knock in the rebound.
Podolski scored his ninth goal of the season in the 55th minute, when Slowomir Peszko capitalized on an error by Nikolce Noveski and squared the ball to Podolski, who beat two defenders before rounding the goalkeeper.
Novakovic scored five minutes later when he eluded three defenders to slot the ball home.
Petar Sliskovic got a late consolation for Mainz in the 89th minute.
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