Hamburger Crushes Koln 6-2 In Bundesliga

Two games ago in Germany's Bundesliga, Hamburger SV endured an embarrassing 6-0 defeat at the hands of FC Bayern Munich, but the club recovered some of their dignity when they in turn crushed 1. FC Koln 6-2 on the weekend.

Understandably rattled at being dispatched so comprehensively in their previous game, when Hamburger hosted Koln on Saturday, they made very sure to take control of the game from the outset, and in just the 12th minute opened the scoring in fine style.

That goal was courtesy of Yugoslavian forward Mladen Petric - who scored two more goals to make a hat-trick - and which set the scene for Hamburger's first Bundesliga win in four matches, pushing the club up into seventh place in the Bundesliga standings.

Although Koln tried to rally after Petric's impressive opener, the home team's defenses were just too strong, as was their attacking game, which was ably demonstrated in the 32nd minute when midfielder Anis Ben-Hatira made his mark with goal number two.

Sensing that they were in a world of trouble, Koln seemed to lose all of their confidence at a rate of knots, and Hamburger pounced on their bewildered opponents, scored their third goal six minutes later, courtesy of another gutsy effort from a red-hot Petric.

But the first half onslaught did not end there, because two minutes before the half-time whistle Petric completed his hat-trick to the loudest of cheers from the mainly home fans. Koln could only look down in shame as they walked off the pitch at the break.

However, to the credit of the visitors, they refused to lie down and die in the second half despite their 4-0 deficit, and rallied to score in the 50th minute courtesy of Yugoslavian midfielder Mato Jajalo, which gave the visiting fans a small glimpse of hope.

That hope quickly evaporated, when Hamburger answered with goal number five just two minutes later from midfielder Gojko Kacar, and goal number six minutes after that courtesy of a sterling penalty from top-rated Brazilian midfielder Ze Roberto.

And even though Koln managed to pull another goal back thanks to a 62nd minute effort from Polish attacking midfielder Lukas Podolski, Hamburger had done enough to seal the deal at 6-2, and boost their confidence for the crucial Bundesliga games ahead.

Here are the complete Bundesliga results from the weekend: