Bremen, Schalke still in the race

BEIJING, April 28 -- Werder Bremen and Schalke 04 kept alive their slim hopes of catching Bundesliga leader Bayern Munich on Saturday.

An 86th-minute equalizer from Boubacar Sanogo gave Bremen a dramatic 3-3 draw at Karlsruhe to hold on to second place on 54 points while Schalke, also third with 54, beat Hamburger SV 1-0.

Bayern leads the table with 63 points with five matches remaining and was playing VfB Stuttgart at home yesterday. Bayern could have clinched its 21st German championship against Stuttgart if Werder had lost and Schalke had not won.

Bremen came from behind twice to snatch a crucial point in Karlsruhe and stay ahead of Schalke on goal difference in the second-place battle for direct Champions League qualification.

Sebastian Freis beat the Bremen offside trap to put mid-table Karlsruhe in front after 15 minutes before Diego fired in a deflected equalizer seven minutes later.

Midfielder Mesut Oezil scored his first Bremen goal in the 29th but Freis got his second just before the hour, outsprinting Naldo, then beating Germany defender Per Mertesacker to make it 2-2.

Eight minutes later Edmond Kapllani put the hosts back in front only for Sanogo to rescue a point for Bremen four minutes from time.

In Hamburg, Schalke's Kevin Kuranyi headed home an Albert Streit cross just 90 seconds into the match, to leave the hosts without a win in their last six matches.

At the bottom, Energie Cottbus scored twice in the final nine minutes to beat Hansa Rostock 2-1 and pull five points clear of the drop zone in 14th place on 32 points.

Rostock dropped to second from bottom on 27 points, level on points with 16th-placed Nuremberg which drew 2-2 with Arminia Bielefeld, two points clear in 15th place.

(Source: Shanghai Daily/ Agencies)