Wolfsburg, Germany (Betting Express) - Wolfsburg needed four goals from Martin Petrov to outlast Mainz, 4-3, Saturday afternoon at the Volkswagon Arena.
Petrov helped the Bundesliga leaders remain atop the table when he scored four straight goals to erase a two-goal deficit. Two of the Bulgarian's strikes came via penalties. Two also came during first-half injury time.
Petrov's third goal in the 57th minute came after Jurgen Kramny handled the ball in front of the goal. Kramny was sent off and Mainz was reduced to 10- men right before Petrov capped off a brilliant individual effort.
Wolfsburg's lead is now three points over its nearest Bundesliga competitor, red-hot Schalke. Schalke won its fifth straight match Saturday, 3-2 over Stuttgart.
Schalke came out ready to play and scored twice in the first two minutes on goals by Ailton and Levan Kobiashvili. Brazilian Lincoln later made it 3-0 i favor of the hosts.
Stuttgart, which has now dropped three straight, battled back behind goals from Zvonimir Soldo and Imre Szabics, but could not overcome the three-goal deficit.
Borussia Dortmund won its second straight game after recording a 1-0 victory over Bayer Leverkusen. Ewerthon struck for the match's only goal just before the halftime whistle. Leverkusen's struggles continued as they have now won just once in its last four Bundesliga contests. They also have not won on the road yet during the domestic season.
Bayern Munich's struggles continued at Monchengladbach Saturday when they dropped a 2-0 decision. Bayern has not scored at Monchengladbach since 1998.
Marcelo Pletsch and Joris van Hout scored for Monchengladbach, which was playing a man up after Bayern's Brazilian defender Lucio was sent off in the 54th minute.
Bayern did have star midfielder Michael Ballack back in the lineup. Ballack missed the club's past few games due to injury.
In other Bundesliga action, Hertha Berlin won at Freiburg, 3-1; Hannover easily bested Bochum, 3-0; defending Bundesliga champion Werder Bremen finished 1-1 tied with Hamburg on its home ground.
