Salomon Kalou on Friday scored his first Bundesliga hat-trick as Hertha BSC won 3-1 against Hannover 96.
Playing with a head bandage in Berlin’s white-and-blue colors because of a previous injury, Kalou scored in the 33rd, 60th and then converted a penalty in the 88th minute as his team outplayed the home side.
Hiroshi Kiyotake scored from the spot for Hannover in the 70th.
The win provisionally took Berlin to fourth place, while Hannover stayed 14th.
Kalou’s first two goals came as a result of clinical finishing from counterattacks.
The first came after a pass from Genki Haraguchi, with Kalou shaking off two defenders and shooting through the legs of one of them to beat goalkeeper Ron-Robert Zieler.
For the second, Vladimir Darida sent Kalou racing down the field with a perfectly timed long through-ball and the striker easily drove past Zieler.
Zieler got his fingers on Kalou’s penalty shot, but could not stop the powerful strike.
“Three goals in the Bundesliga is an exceptional moment,” Berlin coach Pal Dardai said of Kalou.
“But the whole team played well. We were very well organized. Respect. The first half was especially good,” he said.
LIGUE 1
AFP, ANGERS, France
Stade Rennais on Friday ended a seven-match winless streak with a 2-0 victory against Angers SCO, topping off a week that had already seen France playmaker Yoann Gourcuff return to his boyhood club.
Rennes were ahead after just four minutes, with Abdoulaye Doucoure finishing off a fine move between Sylvain Armand and Giovanni Sio.
Gelson Fernandes added the second goal on the hour mark after Angers failed to clear a corner.
The win moved Rennes into sixth place in Ligue 1, 12 points behind leaders and champions Paris Saint-Germain, while Angers were fourth, 10 points off the pace.
Earlier in the week, Rennes signed former France international Gourcuff, who was a free agent.
The 31-times capped midfielder had already agreed in September to return to the club where he began his career, but had not yet put pen to paper.
LA LIGA
AFP, MADRID
UD Las Palmas on Friday heaped the pressure on former Manchester United manager David Moyes as they secured just their second win of the season over the Scot’s Real Sociedad side 2-0.
Jonathan Viera opened the scoring for the Canary Islanders midway through the first half before Sergio Araujo sealed the points soon after the break.
A sixth defeat in 11 league games this season left Sociedad above Las Palmas and out of the relegation zone only on goal difference.
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