Bayern beat Hertha to revive title hopes

Bayern Munich tuned up for their Champions League showdown against Real Madrid this week and climbed back into Bundesliga title contention with a 3-2 victory at Hertha Berlin yesterday.

Hasan Salihamidzic, Lukas Podolski and Roy Makaay scored in front of a sell-out crowd of 75,400 at Berlin's Olympic Stadium to end Bayern's five-match away losing streak in the Bundesliga.

Their second straight victory lifted the defending champions to within six points of faltering leaders Schalke 04, who remain on 49 points after losing at home to Hamburg on Friday - their second straight defeat.

"It's a different situation now after Schalke's two losses," said Bayern coach Ottmar Hitzfeld, who had lowered his season goals two weeks ago when slumping Bayern fell 12 points off the pace.

"No one expected that to happen," he added of Schalke's stumble.

"It's a gift from heaven. We knew we'd be able to get back to third. This week will show if we can get back up to the top," he said, ahead of this week's match against Werder Bremen.

Striker Aaron Hunt scored a hat-trick to lift Werder to a 3-0 win over VfL Bochum and from third to second place on 46 points. They moved in front of VfB Stuttgart, who were beaten 3-1 by Bayer Leverkusen.

German international Podolski, enjoying an upturn in form since the arrival of Hitzfeld, played a part in all three Bayern goals. He had spent much of the season on the bench under Hitzfeld's predecessor Felix Magath.

Hertha keeper Christian Fiedler just managed to get his hand to Podolski's header from a Willy Sagnol corner in the 30th minute but Salihamidzic was alert to tap in the rebound.

Podolski on the mark

Less than a minute later Podolski doubled Bayern's lead, slamming a superb low volley past Fielder into the right corner. It was his third league goal for Bayern.

After Hertha's Christian Jimenez outjumped Bayern defender Philipp Lahm and knocked his header past Oliver Kahn in the 58th minute to cut Bayern's lead to 2-1, it was Podolski who once again jolted his team mates back to life.

He set up Bayern's third goal by slipping a perfect through ball to Dutchman Makaay, who beat Fielder with a crisp low shot in the 68th minute.

"We're having a good run," Podolski said. "We deserved the win and got three points. At the end of the day, that's the only thing that matters."

Hertha made it 3-2 eight minutes from time with a goal from defender Dick van Burik but Bayern held on for the win. Hertha defender Josip Simunic was sent off in injury time after lunging at Bastian Schweinsteiger.

Hertha coach Falko Goetz conceded Bayern were impressive. "They know they have the talent to win the championship and they're going to put the pressure on all three teams in front of them," he said.

"We gave up two goals within a minute. You can't do that against a club like Bayern."