Hoffenheim goalkeeper Koel Casteels looks on after Stuttgart scored their fourth goal during their Bundesliga match in Stuttgart yesterday. (EPA)
VfB Stuttgart romped to a 6-2 Bundesliga win over Hoffenheim yesterday with striker Vedad Ibisevic netting a hat-trick after coach Bruno Labbadia was sacked last week.
Stuttgart picked up their first points of the season after three straight defeats led to Labbadia’s dismissal last Monday with his team in the relegation places.
Caretaker coach Thomas Schneider got off to an emphatic start as Stuttgart’s Romania striker Alexandru Maxim did the damage by scoring two goals and setting up two more while Bosnia striker Ibisevic claimed a hat-trick.
“It was a fun game for us, we gave it our all after a tough week,” said Ibisevic, who was sporting a black-eye after receiving a stray boot in the face late on.
“That was a reaction from the events of the last few weeks.”
The result lifts Stuttgart out of the bottom three and into 14th and leaves Hoffenheim 11th after their first defeat of the season.
Borussia Dortmund can usurp defending champions Bayern Munich at the top of the Bundesliga table if they win at Eintracht Frankfurt on Sunday evening.
On Saturday, Bayer Leverkusen blew the chance to go top as they lost their 100 percent record with a 2-0 defeat at resurgent Schalke 04.
Both Germany left-back Dennis Aogo, who has joined Schalke on loan from Hamburg, and Ghana midfielder Kevin-Prince Boateng, who signed a four-year deal from AC Milan on Friday, started as the Royal Blues picked up their first league win of the season.
Schalke went ahead with half an hour gone when a free-kick went in off midfielder Marco Hoeger’s right shoulder before Peru forward Jefferson Farfan made sure of the win when he drilled home an 83rd-minute penalty after being hauled down in the area.
Mainz 05 also lost their 100 percent record and wasted their chance to go top as they crashed to a 4-1 defeat at Hanover 96.
Mainz took a 12th-minute lead through striker Nicolai Mueller, but Senegal striker Mame Diouf and Poland forward Artur Sobiech put the hosts 2-1 up at the break before Ivory Coast forward Didier Ya Konan and midfielder Edgar Prib doubled the lead.
Elsewhere, struggling Hamburg picked up their first win of the season after two consecutive defeats with a 4-0 thumping of promoted Eintracht Braunschweig.
Dutch international Rafael van der Vaart put Hamburg ahead in the seventh minute on their first attack before Cameroon striker Jacques Zoua doubled the lead on 17 minutes as the hosts counter-attacked at pace.
Hamburg confirmed their first three points—and Braunschweig’s fourth straight defeat to leave Eintracht bottom of the table—when 19-year-old Turkish midfielder Hakan Calhanoglu came on for van der Vaart on 79 minutes to claim a brace, including a stunning free-kick.
Meanwhile, Borussia Moenchengladbach moved up to seventh as they romped to a 4-1 home win over Werder Bremen.
Venezuelan winger Juan Arango opened the scoring on 36 minutes with a wonderful strike from the left and Gladbach then added three more in the second half, including one from German international forward Max Kruse.
Norway midfielder Havard Nordtveit’s 69th minute own-goal proved to be a mere consolation for Robin Dutt’s Bremen, who have now lost two on the bounce.
Wolfsburg enjoyed a 2-0 win at home to Hertha Berlin with Ivica Olic and Diego on target, while Augsburg picked up their second straight win with a 1-0 success at Nuremberg thanks to a late goal from substitute Kevin Vogt.