BERLIN: Bayer Leverkusen finished the year in the Bundesliga’s top spot, racing back from 2-1 down to beat gutsy Borussia Moenchengladbach 3-2 on Saturday.
Playmaker Toni Kroos, on loan from Bayern Munich, fired in the winner on 69 minutes — his second goal of the evening — to lift undefeated Leverkusen to 35 points from 17 matches, one ahead of Schalke 04, who beat Mainz 1-0 on Friday. The Bundesliga resumes on Jan. 15.
On a snowy and bitterly cold day across most of Germany, Bayern Munich demolished bottom-placed Hertha Berlin 5-2 for their fourth straight league win to stay in the hunt, in third place on 33 points.
Leverkusen, who became only the third team in Bundesliga history to remain undefeated in the first half of the season, looked on their way to victory when Kroos fired them into the lead on 18 minutes, his shot taking a lucky deflection.
In-form Gladbach refused to give up and defender Roel Brouwers stunned the hosts in the 36th with an equalizer, tapping in after keeper Rene Adler failed to block.
Another defender, Dante, put the visitors in the lead nine minutes after the restart but Swiss international Eren Derdiyok levelled with a shot inside the box in the 60th minute before Kroos netted the winner with his sixth goal of the season.
Bayern had a trouble-free afternoon against Hertha, with defender Daniel van Buyten opening the score before Mario Gomez and Arjen Robbed added a brace within two minutes to warm the hearts of fans watching in temperatures of minus 10 degrees Celsius.
Midfielder Thomas Mueller made it 4-0 on the hour before Adrian Ramos pulled one back for Hertha. Ivica Olic scored Bayern’s fifth with Raffael heading in Hertha’s second in the final minute.
Snowed out
Meanwhile in Rome, the Serie A games Bologna-Atalanta and Fiorentina-AC Milan were postponed Saturday due to snowfall and chilling temperatures, local media reported.
Team officials, referees and authorities agreed on the postponement, but didn’t set a date for the matches, which are likely to be moved to January.
Thick snow and ice on the pitch was the basis for the cancellation in Bologna.
There were fewer problems for the pitch in Florence, but ice made the streets leading to the Artemio Franchi unsafe as a large crowd was expected for the match.
Bad weather could also cause the cancellation of a Sunday game in Udine between Udinese and Cagliari.
