BERLIN: Schalke celebrated the resumption of the Bundesliga with a 5-4 win over Hanover on Friday, their first league triumph since November 10.

Schalke moved provisionally into fifth place in the table ahead of the rest of the weekend programme which will see Bayern Munich looking to boost their lead at the top when they face rock-bottom Greuther Fuerth.

Jefferson Farfan gave Schalke the lead just before the interval while eight further goals followed in the second half.

Julian Draxler made it 2-0 four minutes after the break before Sergio Pinto and Szabolcs Huszti drew Hanover level.

Marco Hoger and Cipiran Marica soon restored Schalke’s two-goal lead.

Huszti reduced the deficit to 4-3 before Tottenham-bound Lewis Holtby grabbed Schalke’s fifth, two minutes from the end.
Mame Diouf completed the scoring in stoppage time for Hanover. – AFP

German league table after Friday’s match

(played, won, drawn, lost, goals for, goals against, points):

Bayern Munich 17 13 3 1 44 7 42

Bayer Leverkusen 17 10 3 4 33 22 33

Dortmund 17 8 6 3 35 20 30

Eintracht Frankfurt 17 9 3 5 33 27 30

Schalke 04 18 8 4 6 32 29 28

SC Freiburg 17 7 5 5 24 18 26

Mainz 05 17 8 2 7 24 21 26

Moenchengladbach 17 6 7 4 25 26 25

VfB Stuttgart 17 7 4 6 21 28 25

Hamburg 17 7 3 7 18 21 24

Hanover 18 7 2 9 36 36 23

Werder Bremen 17 6 4 7 28 29 22

Fortuna Dusseldorf 17 5 6 6 20 22 21

Nuremberg 17 5 5 7 17 22 20

VfL Wolfsburg 17 5 4 8 17 27 19

Hoffenheim 17 3 3 11 23 41 12

FC Augsburg 17 1 6 10 12 29 9

Gruether Fuerth 17 1 6 10 11 28 9 – AFP

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