Traore fires Gladbach back to 3rd

Hamburg escape drop Lille beat Lens in northern derby

BERLIN, May 3, (AFP): Guinea’s Ibrahima Traore came off the bench to score Borussia Moenchengladbach’s winner in their 2-1 victory at strugglers Hertha Berlin on Sunday to reclaim third place in the Bundesliga.

The game had been heading for a draw after an early goal by Gladbach’s Germany striker Max Kruse was cancelled out by a headed equaliser from Hertha’s Swiss midfielder Valentin Stocker on 13 minutes.

Traore scored his first goal for Gladbach since joining from Stuttgart last year when he came on with 73 minutes gone and drilled home the winner five minutes from time.

Lucien Favre-coached Gladbach went back up to third after Bayer Leverkusen had briefly usurped them by beating newly-crowned champions Bayern Munich 2-0 on Saturday with goals by Hakan Calhanoglu and Julian Brandt.

With Leverkusen now two points behind Moenchengladbach, the sides will square off at Gladbach’s Borussia Park on Saturday in a key clash with the top three in Germany qualifying directly for the Champions League.

Earlier, Hamburg escaped the relegation places for the first time since March after Gojko Kacar’s last-gasp goal sealed a 2-1 win at 10man Mainz.

Hamburg were gifted a first-half lead thanks to an own goal when Heiko Westermann’s cross