Berlin edge Freiburg, Leipzig hold Hoffenheim in Bundesliga football league

Julian Schieber's late goal secured Hertha Berlin a 2-1 win over Freiburg while Leipzig held Hoffenheim to a two-all draw courtesy of Marcel Sabitzer's equaliser in Germany's Bundesliga football league here.

Hertha Berlin wrapped up a successful start into the new season as Pal Dardai's men responded to Freiburg's late leveller through substitute Schieber on Sunday.

Newly promoted Freiburg staged a well positioned defence and kept the "Herthaner" at a distance in the first half, reports Xinhua.

After the restart, Berlin piled on the pressure as Vladimir Darida came close in the 54th minute but pulled over the bar from promising position. The hosts' efforts were rewarded eight minutes later when Genki Haraguchi and Vedad Ibisevic teed up for Darida, who drilled the ball low into the bottom right corner.

Freiburg responded well and worked out good opportunities through Vincenzo Grifo and Maximilian Philipp, but both players failed to restore parity.

Berlin tried to protect their lead until the final whistle but Freiburg punished the hosts as Grifo's cross found Nicolas Hoefler, who headed home the equaliser in the dying minutes of the game.

The hosts remained unimpressed and grabbed the late winner thanks to Schieber, who capitalised on Freiburg's poor clearance following a corner to make it 2-1 on the scoreboard.

"I was annoyed by the late equaliser. We should have scored the second goal earlier. However, after the late winner I was very happy," Berlin coach Dardai said.

"We are of course disappointed. We have to improve our performance to win games," Freiburg coach Christian Streich said.

Elsewhere, newly promoted Leipzig came back twice to snatch a 2-2 draw at Hoffenheim. Lukas Rupp broke the deadlock for the hosts in the 55th minute before Leipzig's Dominik Kaiser marked the 1-1 draw only three minutes later.

Mark Uth provided Hoffenheim the 2-1 lead in the 83rd minute but Leipzig responded again and reaped one point thanks to Marcel Sabitzer's last gasp leveller.

--IANS

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