Bremen beats Hertha 2-0, Augsburg goes 5th in Bundesliga
BERLIN (AP) - Franco di Santo scored twice for Werder Bremen to beat Hertha Berlin 2-0 and jump from the Bundesliga relegation zone to 12th, while Augsburg defeated Hoffenheim 3-1 to go fifth on Sunday.
Augsburg, enjoying its best ever season, moved level on points with Borussia Moenchengladbach and Schalke thanks to goals from Halil Altintop, Tobias Werner and Raul Bobadilla.
"We're not thinking about Europe. We want to get 50 points as quickly as possible. Then we'll see," Augsburg general manager Stefan Reuter said. Only goal difference separates his side from the Champions League qualification places.
Altintop got between two defenders to meet Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg's fine cross with a header in the 39th. Hojbjerg was making his league debut for Augsburg after joining on loan from Bayern Munich.
"Pierre already showed before the game that he had a good foot," Altintop said of the 19-year-old Dane.
Werner's free kick somehow found its way through to make it 2-0 three minutes later, and Roberto Firmino pulled one back with a header three minutes after that.
Alexander Manninger produced a fine save to deny David Abraham an equalizer in injury time, before Bobadilla sealed the result on a counterattack.
Earlier, Bremen made the better start at home to Hertha and went close through Jannik Vestergaard early on, before Davie Selke brought a flying save from Thomas Kraft after beating a defender.
Di Santo finally made the breakthrough in the 43rd minute with a brilliant effort from a difficult angle over Kraft and in off the far post.
The Argentine sealed the result with a mis-hit volley from Clemens Fritz's cross that bounced beyond the helpless Kraft in the 69th.
"Both goals were nice but the three points are important, everything else is secondary," Di Santo said.
After its ninth successive home win over Hertha, which failed to produce a single shot on target, Bremen moved two points clear of its rival, which is just one point above the relegation places.
Leader Bayern Munich slipped to its first league defeat of the season Friday, losing 4-1 at second-place Wolfsburg, while Borussia Dortmund is bottom after Saturday's 0-0 draw at Bayer Leverkusen.