Hoffenheim crashed to their third Bundesliga defeat of the season on Sunday despite coming from behind twice in losing 5-3 at Freiburg with the hosts scoring twice in a dramatic last 10 minutes.
Midfielder Max Kruse was Freiburg's star after scoring his team's second goal, then creating two more to pile more pressure on Hoffenheim coach Markus Babbel whose team are rock bottom of the Bundesliga.
Hoffenheim took the lead when French defender Matthieu Delpierre scored after two minutes, but goals by Karim Guede and Kruse put the hosts ahead with 27 minutes gone.
Hoffenheim equalised after the break when Japanese midfielder Takashi Usami set up Boris Vukcevic to make it 2-2 on 57 minutes.
A header from Freiburg's Senegal defender Fallou Diagne on 68 minutes put the hosts ahead only for Usami, on loan from Bayern Munich, to level for Hoffenheim on 76 minutes.
Kruse set up both goals in a dramatic final 10 minutes as Cedrick Makiadi slotted home on 83 minutes, then striker Sebastian Fries netted the fifth on 87 minutes to give his team three points.
Later Sunday, Hamburg midfielder Rafael van der Vaart makes his first start since returning from Tottenham Hotspur for the Hanseatic club at Eintracht Frankfurt.
On Saturday, Bayern Munich maintained their perfect start to the season when their 3-1 home win over Mainz gave them a third win in three league matches.
Munich won without Franck Ribery and Arjen Robben after they both picked up thigh injuries in the final training session, while new signing Javier Martinez only came off the bench for the final 15 minutes.
Schalke 04 went third with a 2-0 win at Greuther Fuerth, thanks to goals from teenager Julian Draxler, who turns 19 on Thursday, and midfielder Lewis Holtby.
Former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger was in the stands to watch Fuerth play, having been born in the north Bavarian town before his Jewish family fled Nazi Germany in 1938.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel was at Borussia Dortmund to watch the defending champions enjoy a convincing 3-0 win over Bayer Leverkusen to move up from sixth place to fourth at a sold-out Signal Iduna Park.
Hanover are second after a dramatic 3-2 win over Werder Bremen at home in the north German derby with midfielder Szabolcs Huszti scoring the winner in the 92nd minute, but his shirtless celebration saw him sent off.
Japan midfielder Hiroshi Kiyotake is making a name for himself in Nuremberg after scoring a 55nd-minute winner in his team's 3-2 win at Borussia Moenchengladbach to put his team fifth.
Stuttgart were held to a goalless draw at home to Fortuna Duesseldorf and on Friday, Wolfsburg were also held to a goalless draw by Augsburg.
Source: AFP
