体坛英语新闻：Leverkusen, Dortmund lose in German Bundesliga

BERLIN, Feb. 22 (Xinhua) -- Second placed Leverkusen and third placed Dortmund suffer surprising defeats while Monchengladbach remain winless at the 22nd round of Bundesliga on Saturday.

Mirko Slomka celebrated a perfect start at his debut as new Hamburg coach, reaping an astonishing 3-0 win over third placed Dortmund. The "HSV" recovered from eight straight defeats while Juergen Klopp's men drop points in the hunt for a Champions League berth.

Slomka took the helm five days ago and wrapped up three vital points at the relegation battle. His changes in the starting eleven made an impact as Petr Jiracek headed the opener three minutes before the break following Pierre Michel Lasogga's cross into the box.

Dortmund were unable to gain a foothold into the match besides that they lacked in creativity to overcome Hamburg's bulwark. The hosts cut a better figure in front of Dortmund's danger zone as Lasogga doubled the lead when he utilized a through ball by Hakan Calhanoglu at the 58th minute.

The "BVB" went close to reduced the arrears but neither Marvin Ducksch or Lukasz Pizczek were able to overcome Hamburg custodian Rene Adler. However, their efforts remained fruitless as Calhanoglu rounded off the 3-0 victory with a hammering dead ball goal from 38 meters in the dying minutes of the game.

Hamburg climbed off a direct relegation spot onto the 16th place, a relegation playoff spot whereas Dortmund stay on third position with 42 points.

Wolfsburg put the top four Bundesliga teams under pressure as the "Wolves" overpowered second placed Leverkusen 3-1, inflicting the "Werkself" the seventh loss of the season.

The hosts staged a clinical chance conversion as Bas Dost opened the scoring with 13 minutes into the match to shock Leverkusen. The visitors were able to level the scores through Sidney Sam just before the break but Wolfsburg added two second- half goals, by courtesy of Luiz Gustavo and Ricardo Rodriguez, to approach the UEFA Champions League spots with their 12th win of the season.

Both sides stay on their positions with Wolfsburg on fifth and Leverkusen on second place.

Monchengladbach remain winless in 2014 as they failed to put a 2-0 lead beyond doubt against Hoffenheim. The hosts took a bright start as Patrick Herrmann broke the deadlock when he lobbed the ball over onrushing Hoffenheim goalkeeper Koen Casteels with just four minutes into the game.

Hoffenheim tried to respond but Kevin Volland's effort was defused by "Foals" goalie Marc Andre ter Stegen. Instead Monchengladbach doubled the lead with their next chance through Tony Jantschke, whose header beat Casteels at the 18th minute.

Hoffenheim recovered at the second half as Roberto Firmino pulled one back at the 58th minute to make it 2-1 on the scoreboards. The visitors pressed frenetically for the equalizer but Monchengladbach's Martin Stranzel allowed Hoffenheim to equalize the scores from the spot following a foul play penalty. Sejad Salihovic converted the penalty to secure his side one point at the 82nd minute.

Elsewhere, Berlin defeated Stuttgart 2-1 to inflict the "VfB" the seventh loss in row. Stuttgart sit in the thick of the relegation battle with just 19 points out of 22 matches.

In a dramatic encounter, a 10-men Nuremberg secured decisive points at the relegation battle. Rafael Schaefer saved two penalties for Nuremberg to help his side to a 2-1 win over bottom side Braunschweig. Not only Braunschweig failed to score from the spot but also Nuremberg missed the chance to grab a higher win and Freiburg gave away a 2-1 lead to lose 4-2 to Augsburg.

The following fixtures will close the 22nd round on Sunday: Frankfurt encounter Bremen and Hannover encounter front runners Bayern Munich who can extend their lead in the table.