BERLIN, March 29 (Xinhua) -- Ishak Belfodil's brace helped Hoffenheim ease 4-1 past Bayer Leverkusen at the curtain raiser of the 27th round in Bundesliga on Friday.
The "TSG" boosted their hopes for a top-six finish after beating Leverkusen, who slipped out of the international business after suffering the second straight loss.
Hoffenheim grabbed a perfect start on home soil, given the hosts needed only one chance to break the deadlock as Belfodil capitalized on Andrej Kramaric's assist to slot home from 15 meters with 10 minutes played.
Leverkusen remained unimpressed and responded well as Kevin Volland restored parity only seven minutes later as the German international headed home Julian Brandt's pinpoint cross.
The visitors should have turned the tides but Julian Brandt missed the empty goal from promising position with 20 minutes into the encounter.
Hoffenheim thought they had grabbed the lead again but for all that, referee Harm Somers cancelled Belfodil's goal due to an offside position in the 32nd minute.
After the restart, Hoffenheim started where they left off and took the lead in the 51st minute when Sven Bender deflected Nadiem Amiri's shot on target to make it 2-1 on the scoreboards.
Julian Nagelsmann's men focused on fast breaks and caught the visitors flatfooted ten minutes later as Florian Grilitsch's long ball allowed Belfodil to wrap up his brace with a well-placed shot from 14 meters into the top left corner.
The third goal took the wind out of Leverkusen's sails whereas Hoffenheim were not done with the scoring as Kramaric benefitted on Belfodil's square pass to secure the 4-1 win.
With the result, Hoffenheim climbed on the 8th place meanwhile Leverkusen slipped from the 6th to the 7th place.
The following fixtures are scheduled for Saturday: front-runners Bayern Munich travel to Freiburg, runner-up Dortmund see Wolfsburg, Werder Bremen host Mainz, Fortuna Dusseldorf encounter Borussia Monchengladbach, bottom side Nuremberg face Augsburg, and Hertha Berlin travel to Leipzig.
