Hamburg won 4-1 at home to Eintracht Frankfurt to regain third place in the Bundesliga, as close rivals Bayer Leverkusen slipped to a 2-0 defeat away to Vfl Bochum.

Peruvian international Paolo Guerrero struck twice and Nigel de Jong and African Cup of Nations winner Mohamed Zidan were also on target to help Hamburg stretch their unbeaten run to seven league matches.

Guerrero gave Hamburg the lead with a twisting header in the fifth minute and De Jong headed them 2-0 ahead 12 minutes into the second half after Rafael van der Vaart's clever free-kick had surprised the Frankfurt defence.

Frankfurt kept fighting and deservedly got one back through a Sotiris Kyrgiakos header with 20 minutes to go, but Guerrero fired into the roof of the net and Egyptian international Zidan made it 4-1 late on.

Hamburg now have a three-point advantage in third place, the final Champions League qualifying slot.

Vfl Bochum 2-0 Bayer Leverkusen

Leverkusen slipped off the pace after falling to Bochum.

Leverkusen conceded goals from Thomas Zdebel and Christoph Dabrowski in the final 25 minutes, giving up a chance to remain on the same points as Hamburg.

Bochum took the lead in the 66th minute when Dabrowski nodded down a cross for Zdebel to blast in. A brilliant snaking run from Mimoun Azaouagh set up Dabrowski for the second two minutes from time.

With 22 games played, Bayern Munich lead the Bundesliga with 47 points following their 1-0 win away to Schalke - their first league victory in Gelsenkirchen in almost a decade.

Werder Bremen, 2-0 winners at home to Borussia Dortmund, are in second spot, four points behind them. Hamburg have 41 points, with Leverkusen now fourth on 38.

Reuters