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Leverkusen pressures Bayern Munich with another rout |
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April
22, 2000 BERLIN,
APR 21 (AP) - Bayer Leverkusen blasted Werder Bremen 3-1 Thursday to
pressure Bayern Munich into a must-win situation on Saturday in the
Bundesliga title race. Ulf
Kirsten, Paulo Rink and Ze Roberto scored first-half goals as Leverkusen's
explosive away performance moved it six points clear in the table and
forced Munich to match the win - or pack in its title hopes. There
are just three rounds left in the German league after the weekend
to decide a months-long battle between Leverkusen, a perennial league
second, and the defending champions. Eintracht
Frankfurt also shook off its latest setback against relegation
by rolling past Hamburg 3-0. The triumph came six days after it was
penalized two points for license irregularities. Leverkusen
had been expected to face a stiff test against Bremen, which
entered just three points away from a Champions Cup qualifying berth. The
visitors hadn't won at Weserstadion in 20 tries. "Our
friends at Bremen will give us a hand," said Munich manager Uli
Hoeness beforehand. But
Bremen ended up as spectators in Leverkusen's first-half offensive
show. Kirsten scored his league-best 16th in the 29th, Rink headed in his
league-tops ninth since the winter break in the 35th, and Ze Roberto
back-heeled the third six minutes later. Dirk
Flock shot his first Bundesliga goal with four minutes to play
for Bremen, which was clueless as to how to stop Leverkusen's six German
internationals up front from passing them dizzy. Rolf-Christel
Guie-Mien scored twice, in the 6th and 76th, for Frankfurt
against Hamburg, which has 10 regulars injured. Chen
Yang added the third goal in the 71st. |