Hoffenheim back down to earth

Surprise leaders 1899 Hoffenheim came back down to earth with a bump yesterday after a 5-2 defeat at Bayer Leverkusen.

Hoffenheim, the village team with deep pockets and high ambitions, went 2-0 down early on and never looked like extending the only 100 per cent record in the Bundesliga.

Schalke 04 took advantage, moving top with seven points from three games thanks to a 1-0 win at home to local rivals Bochum.

Trailing Schalke on goal difference are Hamburg SV, who came from 2-0 down to win 4-2 at Arminia Bielefeld, and Borussia Dortmund, who sneaked a 1-0 win at Energie Cottbus.

Champions Bayern Munich, who have just two points from their opening two games, look for a first league win of the season at home to Hertha Berlin today.

They are not the only big team struggling this season.

Werder Bremen lost 3-2 away to Borussia Moenchengladbach yesterday and are now in 13th place in the standings with just two points.

A great pass from Marko Marin set up Karim Matmour to put Gladbach ahead early on and the home side moved 3-0 up before late strikes from Claudio Pizarro and Diego gave Werder a flicker of hope.

Bayern and Werder will be Germany's only two representatives in the Champions League after Schalke were trounced 4-0 by Atletico Madrid in qualifying this week.

Schalke fans may be slightly consoled by their position at the top of the table after a derby victory over Bochum.

It was hardly pretty but they got the morale-boosting three points thanks to a Heiko Westermann header nine minutes before the break. Marcelo Bordon booted the ball out of defence, Rafinha crossed and Westermann nodded in from five metres.

Hoffenheim, who have risen from obscurity thanks to the backing of software billionaire Dietmar Hopp, won their first two games against relegation candidates Cottbus and promoted Moenchengladbach but Leverkusen proved a tougher nut to crack.

The team from the tiny village of Sinsheim recovered from their bad start to get back to 2-1 and then 3-2 down, but late strikes from Stefan Kiessling and Tranquillo Barnetta saw Leverkusen home.