Rate it!

0 votes

Brazilian striker Grafite scored twice including a late winner as Wolfsburg beat Bayer Leverkusen 2-1 to maintain their three-point lead in the Bundesliga.

Champions Bayern Munich, in second place with 54 points, edged hosts Arminia Bielefeld 1-0 thanks to a second half Luca Toni header to stay in the hunt with six matches remaining.

Wolfsburg went ahead in the 23rd minute when the league's top scorer Grafite scored with a penalty after he was brought down by Manuel Friedrich.

Minutes later Zvjezdan Misimovic, who has been a crucial part of coach Felix Magath's offensive engine, set up the Brazilian with a defence-splitting 20-metre pass but Grafite failed to beat Leverkusen keeper Rene Adler.

The visitors stepped up a gear in the second half and quickly levelled through Toni Kroos when he fired home from inside the box.

They then proceeded to miss a bagful of chances through Simon Rolfes, Patrick Helmes and Renato Augusto with Wolfsburg seemingly overwhelmed, before Misimovic again set up Grafite to slot past Adler in the 85th minute and steal it for the hosts.

Grafite's second goal took his tally to 22 and extended his team's winning run to 10 successive games.

Bayern, who had hoped for a Wolfsburg slip-up, started well and had a good chance but Toni, unmarked in front of goal, failed to connect with a well-placed Jose Sosa cross.

Arminia, who defended surprisingly well in the first half, came even closer when striker Artur Wichniarek shook off defender Martin Demichelis to float in a cross for Robert Tesche, whose header from six metres had Bayern keeper Joerg Butt making a stunning reflex save.

The 15th-placed team collapsed in the second half, however, and were lucky to concede only one goal when Bayern attacked in waves, missing chance after chance mainly through Franck Ribery, Hamit Altintop and Toni.

Stuttgart striker Mario Gomez scored a hat-trick against Cologne to give his team a 3-0 win that lifted them over Hertha Berlin and Hamburg, who both play on Sunday, into third place with 51 points.

Hamburg, also on 51 points, play Hanover 96 and Hertha, fifth on 49, host Werder Bremen.

Reuters