Germany round-up: Bayern bounce back

Slow start
Bayern, who began their UEFA Champions League campaign with a 3-2 home defeat at the hands of RC Deportivo La Coruña on Wednesday, recovered from a sluggish start to record their fifth victory from six 1. Bundesliga games.

'Poor early performance'
"It was a poor performance from us in the first half but after the break we showed what we are capable of," said Bayern coach Ottmar Hitzfeld, whose side ended last season without any silverware for the first time since 1995.

Shock lead
New signing Paulo Rink opened the scoring for visitors Cottbus against the run of play on 19 minutes, but Alexander Zickler levelled for Bayern seconds before half-time. German playmaker Michael Ballack struck from just inside the area to put Bayern in front two minutes into the second half and Brazilian striker Giovane Elber sealed the Munich club's victory with 14 minutes remaining.

Dortmund delight
Second-placed FC Hansa Rostock, who began the day just one point behind Bayern, lost ground after a 1-0 home defeat against champions BV Borussia Dortmund. Czech striker Jan Koller hit the 12th minute winner for Dortmund, who climb two places to fifth but remain six points off the pace.

'The players were tired'
"You could see today that the players were still tired after their Champions League match," said Dortmund coach Matthias Sammer, whose side were beaten 2-0 by Arsenal FC at Highbury on Tuesday."Despite the victory, we remain under pressure," he added, looking ahead to Dortmund's next Champions League outing at home to French side AJ Auxerre on Tuesday. "We must beat Auxerre."

Bad-tempered game
SV Werder Bremen joined Rostock on 12 points and took third place on goal difference thanks to two goals from Greek striker Angelos Charisteas in a 3-2 win against troubled Bayer 04 Leverkusen. Werder's French playmaker Johan Micoud and Leverkusen's Bulgarian striker Dimitar Berbatov clashed in the 55th minute and both were sent off, one of several ugly scenes that marred a tense second half.

Toppmöller upbeat
It was Leverkusen's third league defeat of the season, after they suffered a 6-2 Champions League defeat by Greek side Olympiakos Piraeus FC on Wednesday, and leaves them in 14th place. "We lost but I felt we played pretty well," said Leverkusen coach Klaus Toppmöller. "We fought hard to come back in the second half and I think we deserved a draw."

Kaiserlautern yet to win 
Four-time German champions 1. FC Kaiserslautern remain in trouble, a 0-0 draw with TSV 1860 München leaving them bottom of the table and without a single victory.  "We've got tough times ahead of us, we all realise that," said Belgian coach Eric Gerets, who was appointed by Kaiserslautern earlier this month after former German international Andreas Brehme was sacked. "It will take months of hard work for us to lift ourselves up."

Goor gets a goal

Late leveller