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With 43,000 spectators gathered in the stadium for the match between Werder and Bayern, an early goal was scored after eleven minutes by Werder's newcomer Diego – receiving a precise pass from Torsten Frings, Diego deceived Bayern's defender Lucio and with a great shot, leaving no chances for Oliver Kahn, sent the ball into Bayern's net.
After playing for about half an hour, Bremen's lead doubled when their defender Pierre Wome scored his first goal in the Bundesliga with a shot from 23 meters. However, the hosts' joy was short-lived as a few minutes later R. Makaay managed to reduce the deficit by scoring Bayern's 3000th goal in the Bundesliga.
Werder secured their victory in the match after an hour when P. Wome redirected a cross from the left into Bayern's goal, beating Brazilian Lucio.
Following this win, Werder shares the first place with Schalke, who won 2-1 at home against Hannover. The first goal for the visitors came early in the match when Z. Bajramovic scored from a sharp angle against Robert Enke. In the 27th minute, after a beautiful combination, Schalke already had a two-goal lead – Brazilian Lincoln accurately passed the ball to L. Kobiashvili, who scored the second goal at close range. At the beginning of the second half, J. Rosenthal managed to reduce the deficit with a shot from 18 meters, but Hannover couldn't achieve more in this match.
The match was successful for Hertha, who won 2-1 at home against Gladbach, a team that has been struggling in away matches. All goals in this match were scored in the second half: in the 50th minute, P. Dardai scored a beautiful goal from about 27 meters, sending the ball under the crossbar.
After a few minutes, the visitors equalized, but Hertha managed to secure the victory with a decisive goal in the 70th minute, scored by M. Pantelic after dribbling past two Gladbach defenders. With three points, the Berlin club shares the third place with defending champions Bayern Munich, while Gladbach remain in the middle of the table with small gaps between teams.
In the duel between the league's newcomers Aachen and Cottbus, victory was taken by Cottbus. Despite Aachen initially leading after a goal from former Cottbus player L. Reghecampf, Cottbus' most productive player V. Munteanu equalized the score after more than an hour of play. Near the end of the match, around fifteen minutes left to play, T. Rost led Cottbus ahead with a great penalty shot from 23 meters, securing the fourth victory for the club this season.
All Saturday's match results:
Werder 3 - 1 Bayern
Schalke 2 - 1 Hannover
Hertha 2 - 1 Gladbach
Nurnberg 1 - 1 Stuttgart
Bochum 1 - 2 Cottbus
Augsburg 1 - 0 Monchengladbach
League table:
[table=1][/table]
