Podolski secures 'lucky' draw for Cologne

German star Lukas Podolski hit his 14th league goal of the season to clinch Cologne a 1-1 draw with Mainz in a replayed Bundesliga match to warm up for their trip to Bayern Munich. The original match between the two sides had been cancelled on 19 November.

Cologne's last league game of 2011 is in Munich on Friday against the league leaders in a match which gives Podolski the chance to go up against his ex-club, where he spent three unfruitful years before returning to Cologne in 2009.

There has been a storm of interest around Podolski, but the German striker has a contract with the Rhineland club until 2013. The 26-year-old justified the fuss, though, with the equaliser against Mainz with a crisp 86th-minute strike to claim his tenth goal in his last eight league games and leave Cologne tenth in the Bundesliga.

"Mainz were clearly the better team and deserved to win, luckily for us I managed to score after all," said Podolski. "The point we got was sheer luck."

While much of the pre-match interest surrounded Podolski, the Cologne star struggled to finish his opportunities with clear chances either side of the break that kept Mainz goalkeeper Christian Wetklo busy.

Both teams showed why they are midtable without a clear shot on goal in the first 35 minutes. The opener finally came on 70 minutes, however, when Tunisian striker Sami Allagui headed home to break his eight-match drought for Mainz.

But Podolski pulled his side level with a trademark goal from just outside the penalty area when midfielder Mato Jajalo slipped a pass to him and he blasted home a shot which slammed off the right post and gave Wetklo no chance.

The draw leaves Mainz 12th in the table as they face fourth-placed Borussia Moenchengladbach on Sunday in their last league game before the winter break.

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Bremen, Cologne claim big victories

Jan Callsen-Bracker's goal was enough for promoted Augsburg to beat Borussia Monchengladbach 1-0 and prevent the visitors from claiming top spot in the Bundesliga today.

Callsen-Bracker scored the only goal of the game in the 51st minute to lift his side off the foot of the table. Gladbach missed out on the chance to move top of the table, for 24 hours at least, having their five-game undefeated streak broken to remain on 30 points.

Augsburg moved ahead of Freiburg, who crashed to a 4-0 defeat at Cologne. Christian Clemens and Lukas Podolski both scored twice as Cologne earned only their second win in six games and ended Freiburg's modest resurgence, which had seen them go four games unbeaten.

Clemens gave Cologne the lead in the 19th minute and Podolski doubled the advantage with half an hour left. Clemens struck again after 66 minutes and Podolski made it 4-0 seven minutes later.

Bremen batter Wolfsburg
Claudio Pizarro scored one goal and set up another as Werder Bremen continued their dominance at home with a convincing 4-1 victory over Wolfsburg, who remain the worst away team in the Bundesliga. Sokratis Papastathopoulos gave Werder the lead after 18 minutes and Pizarro made it 2-0 in the 45th minute.

Markus Rosenberg's goal in the 55th minute finished off Wolfsburg and Marko Arnautovic joined the scoring sheet in the 71st minute. Marcel Schafer scored a consolation goal for Wolfsburg in the 86th minute.

Vedad Ibisevic's brace earned Hoffenheim a 2-0 win at Nurnberg in a game which finished ten-a-side. The Bosnia-Herzegovina striker found the net in the 38th and 55th minutes to end his side's five-match losing run away from home. The hosts had Timothy Chandler sent off two minutes before the interval, while Hoffenheim's Marvin Compper followed in second-half stoppage time.

Hamburg extended their unbeaten run to eight games, although they had to settle for only a point in a 0-0 draw at struggling Mainz.

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