BERLIN – Hertha Berlin leapfrogged Bayern Munich at the top of the Bundesliga on Saturday as captain Vedad Ibisevic scored twice in a 4-2 home win over Borussia Moenchengladbach.
With Bayern playing later at Schalke, Hertha seized their chance to go top with a convincing come-back win at Berlin's Olympic Stadium.
After Gladbach's Belgium midfielder Thorgan Hazard netted a 29th-minute penalty – his seventh goal in ten games against Hertha – Berlin roared back.
Ibisevic headed home his first goal a minute after Hazard had struck, before Austria midfielder Valentino Lazaro scored with another header on 34 minutes to make it 2-1 at the break.
Salomon Kalou then provided the final pass for his forward partner Ibisevic to slot home Berlin's third goal mid-way through the second half.
New signing Alassane Plea gave Gladbach hope with 23 minutes to go before Ondrej Duda scored Hertha's fourth goal by tapping home a great cross from Dutch winger Javairo Dilrosun to delight the 52,000-strong home crowd.
The next visitors to Hertha's Olympic Stadium are Niko Kovac's Bayern on Friday.
US international Christian Pulisic again rescued Borussia Dortmund, who had been reduced to 10 men, with a late goal to equalise in a 1-1 draw at Hoffenheim.
The home team took the lead just before the break when their Brazilian forward Joelinton pounced on a mistake by Dortmund defender Abdou Diallo.
Dortmund's defence was in all sorts of trouble and only the video assistant referee spotting a marginal offside, when Ermin Bicakcic headed into the net five minutes after the break, denied Hoffenheim a second goal.
Frenchman Diallo capped a bad day at the office when he was sent off on 76 minutes for bringing down Andrej Kramaric, who was through on goal.
Having scored the winner at Brugge on his 20th birthday on Tuesday in the Champions League, Pulisic again rescued Dortmund when he equalised six minutes from time, converting a Marco Reus cross.
Elsewhere, Everton misfit Davy Klaassen scored his second goal in as many Bundesliga games in Werder Bremen's 3-2 win over Augsburg to keep his side unbeaten.
The Dutch playmaker, who cost Bremen 14 million euros ($16.3m) from Everton in July, profited 15 minutes from time after Augsburg goalkeeper let the ball roll through his legs from a cross and Klaassen tapped home the winner.
Korean midfielder Koo Ja-Cheol and Philipp Max had pulled Augsburg level after Max Kruse and Maximilian Eggestein had put Werder 2-0 with early goals.
An Anton Waldemar own goal and a late second from Toerles Knoell sealed Nuremberg's 2-0 win at Hanover 96.
Germany striker Nils Petersen scored at the second attempt, heading home a parried first-half penalty, as Freiburg sealed a 3-1 win at Wolfsburg, who suffered their first loss of the season.