Bayern Munich crush Hamburg to move up to third place

BAYERN MUNICH destroyed Hamburg SV 3-0 on Saturday to pick up their second easy win in two weeks and move into third place in the Bundesliga while promoted VfL Bochum extended their unbeaten run to stay top.

Bochum, the surprise of the season so far, demolished Bayer Leverkusen 4-2 to pick up their third convincing victory in three matches this season, sending last season’s runner-up down to 13th place in the process with two points in three matches.

Bayern Munich were captained by Claudio Pizarro, who scored twice in front of a Hamburg crowd of 55,500 to help the 2001 European champions tune up for the second leg of their Champions League qualifier in Munich against Partizan Belgrade tomorrow.

Alexander Zickler added a goal in the 90th minute for Bayern Munich, who beat Partizan Belgrade in the away leg of the qualifier in Belgrade 3-0.

Bayern, who had won three straight Bundesliga crowns before slumping to third last season, opened their wallets to sign some of the league’s top talent, including Michael Ballack, in a bid to reclaim the Bundesliga crown.

Bochum, who were promoted after a strong finish in the second division, overwhelmed Leverkusen even though the home side had taken a 1-0 lead with a goal from Jan Simak in the 10th minute.

Bochum’s Thordur Gudjonsson equalised three minutes later, Dariusz Wosz put Bochum ahead in the 33rd minute and Frank Fahrenhorst made it 3-1 in the 43rd minute. Bochum’s Thomas Christiansen scored his sixth goal of the season on the hour to extend his lead in the Bundesliga goal scoring table before Leverkusen’s Franca made it 4-2 in the 75th.

Stefan Effenberg was not able to help VfL Wolfsburg in his first match with the team after the surprise return to the Bundesliga of the former Bayern Munich captain. Wolfsburg lost 1-0 to Arminia Bielefeld, although a goal

Effenberg created was ruled out by a controversial offside call.

In France, unheralded Nice seized the top spot in the French first division on Saturday thanks to a 2-1 win over Montpellier.

Nice, who were last French champions in 1959, top the standings on nine points, level with Auxerre but with a better goal difference. Kaba Diawara and Eric Roy scored for newly-promoted Nice, who had long been threatened with being kept in the second division because of financial problems. They were saved on appeal at the expense of Metz.

“This is an accident and I told the players not to look at the standings,” said Nice coach Gernot Rohr. We

always believed in our chances, even after conceding an unlucky first goal. But we will quickly be back to earth as we now meet two big teams in Paris St Germain and Olympique Marseille. It is my job to make sure they understand we still need 35 points to keep our place in top flight,” he added.

Auxerre beat Guingamp 2-1 thanks to young strikers Olivier Kapo and Djibril Cisse.

Defending champions Olympique Lyon crushed Bastia 4-1 thanks to a hat-trick by Brazil’s Sonny Anderson, who is top of the goalscorers’ list with six. Lyon are third on eight points.

Olympique Marseille also impressed once more with a 3-1 win away at struggling Stade Rennes. Ironically for Rennes, two of Marseille’s three goals were scored by their former striker Cyril Chapuis.

Bordeaux, who had a fine chance to take the lead, missed out as they slumped to a 2-1 home defeat against promoted Racing Strasbourg. By beating Sedan 1-0 thanks to Uruguay’s Wlater Guglielmone, Ajaccio won their first match in the first division for 29 years.

In Holland, defenders Petri Pasanen and Christian Chivu scored second-half goals as Ajax came back from 1-0 down to beat Vitesse Arnhem 2-1 in the Dutch first division yesterday.

Feyenoord, who play at Fenerbahce in the Champions League and Real Madrid in the European Super Cup in the next five days, dropped two precious points when they drew 2-2 away at Roda JC Kerkrade.