Slick Leverkusen stun leaders Hoffenheim

Patrick Helmes scored twice as Bayer 04 Leverkusen won 4-1 away to Bundesliga leaders TSG 1899 Hoffenheim to throw the German title race wide open on Friday.

Summit meeting
FC Bayern München and Hertha BSC Berlin will battle to take over at the top when the second and third-placed teams, one and two points behind Hoffenheim respectively, meet on Saturday. Leverkusen are up to fourth spot level on 36 points with Hamburger SV, who are preparing for a home fixture against DSC Arminia Bielefeld on Sunday.

Coach disappointed
Hoffenheim, who suffered a first home defeat of the season, never really managed to find their footing after Leverkusen opened up a 2-0 lead in just 12 minutes with lightning-quick attacks which rattled a shaky home defence. "We have to ask ourselves if we were in the wrong movie after 2-0 because had we used our chances better we could have got something out of this," said Hoffenheim coach Ralf Rangnick.

Snow
With the temperature below freezing and snow falling throughout most of the first half, conditions were difficult but with two of the league's most attack-minded teams on the pitch it was never going to be a low-scoring affair. Helmes grabbed a first-half double, taking the Bundesliga's second-top scorer this season to 15 goals, with Simon Rolfes and Gonzalo Castro also on the scoresheet for the visitors.

Deficit reduced
Hoffenheim had briefly reduced the deficit to 2-1 with a well-struck Sejad Salihovic penalty just past the half-hour mark after Demba Ba was brought down by goalkeeper René Adler. They also conceded five goals against Leverkusen in their first league encounter back in August.