Leverkusen Crush Bundesliga Leaders Hoffenheim 4-1

Hoffenheim had briefly reduced the deficit to 2-1 with a well-struck Sejad Salihovic penalty just past the half-hour.

Bayer Leverkusen demolished Bundesliga leaders Hoffenheim 4-1 away with a double by Patrick Helmes to throw the title race wide open on Friday.

Bayern Munich and Hertha Berlin will battle to take over at the top when the second and third-placed teams, one and two points behind Hoffenheim respectively, meet on Sunday (1430).

Leverkusen were 2-0 up after just 12 minutes and added a goal either side of the break with striker Helmes grabbing a first-half brace to take his season's tally to 15.

Hoffenheim had briefly reduced the deficit to 2-1 with a well-struck Sejad Salihovic penalty just past the half-hour after Demba Ba was brought down by goalkeeper Rene Adler.

Hoffenheim lead on 39 points from 20 games followed by Bayern and Hertha while Leverkusen are up to fourth spot level on 36 points with Hamburg, who host Arminia Bielefeld on Sunday.

Bundesliga RESULTS and STANDINGS on Friday
Hoffenheim 1 Bayer Leverkusen 4

 Standings                 P  W  D L  F  A  Pts
  1 Hoffenheim                20 12  3  5 46 28 39
  2 Bayern Munich             19 11  5  3 42 26 38
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  3 Hertha Berlin             19 11  4  4 30 22 37
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  4 Bayer Leverkusen          20 11  3  6 43 27 36
  5 Hamburg SV                19 11  3  5 29 27 36
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  6 VfB Stuttgart             19  9  4  6 32 25 31
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  7 VfL Wolfsburg             19  8  6  5 38 26 30
  8 Schalke 04                19  8  6  5 25 17 30
  9 Borussia Dortmund         19  7  9  3 29 23 30
 10 Werder Bremen             19  7  5  7 40 31 26
 11 Cologne                   19  7  3  9 22 28 24
 12 Eintracht Frankfurt       19  5  5  9 26 33 20
 13 Hanover 96                19  5  5  9 22 35 20
 14 Arminia Bielefeld         19  3  9  7 18 29 18
 15 Energie Cottbus           19  4  4 11 15 32 16
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 16 Karlsruhe SC              19  5  1 13 18 36 16
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 17 VfL Bochum                19  2  8  9 21 32 14
 18 Borussia Moenchengladbach 19  3  3 13 19 38 12
 1-2:   Champions League / EC I
 3:     Champions League preliminary round
 4-5:   UEFA Cup
 6:     UEFA Cup depending on domestic cup
 16:    Relegation Play-off
 17-18: Relegation

 Playing on Saturday (GMT)
 Cologne              v Karlsruhe SC              (1430)
 Eintracht Frankfurt  v VfL Wolfsburg             (1430)
 Hanover 96           v VfB Stuttgart             (1430)
 Hertha Berlin        v Bayern Munich             (1430)
 VfL Bochum           v Schalke 04                (1430)
 Werder Bremen        v Borussia Moenchengladbach (1430)

 Playing on Sunday (GMT)
 Borussia Dortmund    v Energie Cottbus           (1600)
 Hamburg SV           v Arminia Bielefeld         (1600)