Bundesliga: Cologne 4 Hannover 0

Lowly Cologne have dented Hannover’s Champions League hopes with a stunning 4-0 victory in Friday’s lone Bundesliga fixture.

Cologne, who were 11th on the table coming into their meeting at Rhein Energie Stadion, overran the visiting side and piled on three second-half goals, two to striker Milivoje Novakovic.

The Slovenian international has been enjoying a purple patch since February, scoring seven goals in six appearances for Cologne and also picking up the opener in his nation’s 2-1 friendly win over Albania.

Hannover, who could have risen to second on the table with three points, instead remain third on the table.

Their lead over fourth-placed Mainz could be reduced to a point if the latter can defeat Bayer Leverkusen on Sunday. Cologne, meanwhile, rise to 10th.

The hosts had threatened early but needed until the 36th minute to claim their opening goal, and it came from a set piece after Hannover defender Karim Haggui felled Lukas Podolski just outside the area.

Portuguese midfielder Petit blasted his free kick through the wall and past a blind-sighted Ron-Robert Zieler, the Hannover goalkeeper reacting late and seeing the ball fizz by to his left.

Podolski was looking dangerous and brought up his 11th goal of the season on the hour, the German international brought into play by a nice through ball and rounding Zieler wide before threading a nice finish inside the far post.

Novakovic had his first 19 minutes later on Slawomir Peszko’s assist, the Pole taking advantage of a Hannover turnover deep in their half and squirting a neat cross across the goalmouth for an easy finish.

And there was still time for Novakovic to nab his brace, the Slovenian rising above Jan Schlaudraff to nod substitute Adil Chilhi’s cross beyond Zieler in the 89th minute.

Fri 11 March, 2011

Bundesliga: Cologne 4 Hannover 0

Lowly Cologne have dented Hannover’s Champions League hopes with a stunning 4-0 victory in Friday’s lone Bundesliga fixture.

Cologne, who were 11th on the table coming into their meeting at Rhein Energie Stadion, overran the visiting side and piled on three second-half goals, two to striker Milivoje Novakovic.

The Slovenian international has been enjoying a purple patch since February, scoring seven goals in six appearances for Cologne and also picking up the opener in his nation’s 2-1 friendly win over Albania.

Hannover, who could have risen to second on the table with three points, instead remain third on the table.

Their lead over fourth-placed Mainz could be reduced to a point if the latter can defeat Bayer Leverkusen on Sunday. Cologne, meanwhile, rise to 10th.

The hosts had threatened early but needed until the 36th minute to claim their opening goal, and it came from a set piece after Hannover defender Karim Haggui felled Lukas Podolski just outside the area.

Portuguese midfielder Petit blasted his free kick through the wall and past a blind-sighted Ron-Robert Zieler, the Hannover goalkeeper reacting late and seeing the ball fizz by to his left.

Podolski was looking dangerous and brought up his 11th goal of the season on the hour, the German international brought into play by a nice through ball and rounding Zieler wide before threading a nice finish inside the far post.

Novakovic had his first 19 minutes later on Slawomir Peszko’s assist, the Pole taking advantage of a Hannover turnover deep in their half and squirting a neat cross across the goalmouth for an easy finish.

And there was still time for Novakovic to nab his brace, the Slovenian rising above Jan Schlaudraff to nod substitute Adil Chilhi’s cross beyond Zieler in the 89th minute.

Fri 11 March, 2011

DFB-Pokal wrap: Wolfsburg, Cologne dumped

Wolfsburg and Cologne were bundled out of the DFB-Pokal, while Bayern Munich scored six to advance to the quarter-finals on Wednesday.

Steve McClaren’s Wolfsburg were beaten 3-1 by Bundesliga 2 club Energie Cottbus, leaving the future of the Englishman’s reign at the club in serious doubt.

A double from Nils Peterson, including a first-minute header, and a Shao Jiayi strike before the break gave the underdogs the advantage, before Edin Dzeko scored a consolation goal for Wolfsburg in the second half.

Duisburg also caused an upset, ousting Cologne to reach the last eight with a 2-1 victory.

Stefan Maierhofer and Julian Koch scored for the second-division side before Simon Terodde pulled a goal back late for Cologne but it was not enough to save them from being ousted from the German cup.

Bayern Munich flexed their proverbial muscle with a 6-3 win over Stuttgart at the Mercedes Benz Arena.

Andreas Ottl and Mario Gomez had the visitors two goals ahead after just eight minutes, and the signs were ominous for Stuttgart.

But a double from Pavel Pogrebnyak before half-time squared the ledger at 2-2.

Miroslav Klose put Bayern ahead seven minutes after the break, before Matthieu Delpierre equalised on 77 minutes, but not before Khalid Boulahrouz was sent off for Stuttgart.

Thomas Mueller scored for Bayern to give them the lead for a third time during the match, before Klose grabbed his second and Franck Ribery made it six for the visitors in their runaway victory.

Delpierre was also sent off in the 87th minute, leaving Stuttgart with just nine men on the field at the final whistle.

Ten-man Eintracht Frankfurt were ousted by Bundesliga 2 side Alemannia Aachen in a penalty shootout, after regulation and extra time finished all square at 1-1.

There were no goals in the opening 90 minutes, however Frankfurt were restricted to 10 men when Pirmin Schwegler was given his marching orders in the 14th minute.

Aachen’s Marco Hoger netted in the third minute of extra time, but substitute Martin Fenin equalised for Frankfurt to send the match into penalties, with the lower division side triumphing 5-3 to reach the quarter-finals.

Wed 22 December, 2010

DFB-Pokal wrap: Wolfsburg, Cologne dumped

Wolfsburg and Cologne were bundled out of the DFB-Pokal, while Bayern Munich scored six to advance to the quarter-finals on Wednesday.

Steve McClaren’s Wolfsburg were beaten 3-1 by Bundesliga 2 club Energie Cottbus, leaving the future of the Englishman’s reign at the club in serious doubt.

A double from Nils Peterson, including a first-minute header, and a Shao Jiayi strike before the break gave the underdogs the advantage, before Edin Dzeko scored a consolation goal for Wolfsburg in the second half.

Duisburg also caused an upset, ousting Cologne to reach the last eight with a 2-1 victory.

Stefan Maierhofer and Julian Koch scored for the second-division side before Simon Terodde pulled a goal back late for Cologne but it was not enough to save them from being ousted from the German cup.

Bayern Munich flexed their proverbial muscle with a 6-3 win over Stuttgart at the Mercedes Benz Arena.

Andreas Ottl and Mario Gomez had the visitors two goals ahead after just eight minutes, and the signs were ominous for Stuttgart.

But a double from Pavel Pogrebnyak before half-time squared the ledger at 2-2.

Miroslav Klose put Bayern ahead seven minutes after the break, before Matthieu Delpierre equalised on 77 minutes, but not before Khalid Boulahrouz was sent off for Stuttgart.

Thomas Mueller scored for Bayern to give them the lead for a third time during the match, before Klose grabbed his second and Franck Ribery made it six for the visitors in their runaway victory.

Delpierre was also sent off in the 87th minute, leaving Stuttgart with just nine men on the field at the final whistle.

Ten-man Eintracht Frankfurt were ousted by Bundesliga 2 side Alemannia Aachen in a penalty shootout, after regulation and extra time finished all square at 1-1.

There were no goals in the opening 90 minutes, however Frankfurt were restricted to 10 men when Pirmin Schwegler was given his marching orders in the 14th minute.

Aachen’s Marco Hoger netted in the third minute of extra time, but substitute Martin Fenin equalised for Frankfurt to send the match into penalties, with the lower division side triumphing 5-3 to reach the quarter-finals.

Wed 22 December, 2010