* Leverkusen finish year on top of Bundesliga
* Bayern crush Hertha to stay in third two points off top
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BERLIN, Dec 19 - Bayer Leverkusen finished the
year in the Bundesliga's top spot, racing back from 2-1 down to
beat gutsy Borussia Moenchengladbach 3-2 on Saturday.
Playmaker Toni Kroos, on loan from Bayern Munich, fired in
the winner on 69 minutes -- his second goal of the evening -- to
lift undefeated Leverkusen to 35 points from 17 matches, one
ahead of Schalke 04, who beat Mainz 1-0 on Friday. The
Bundesliga resumes on Jan. 15.
On a snowy and bitterly cold day across most of Germany,
Bayern Munich demolished bottom-placed Hertha Berlin 5-2 for
their fourth straight league win to stay in the hunt, in third
place on 33 points.
Leverkusen, who became only the third team in Bundesliga
history to remain undefeated in the first half of the season,
looked on their way to victory when Kroos fired them into the
lead on 18 minutes, his shot taking a lucky deflection.
In-form Gladbach refused to give up and defender Roel
Brouwers stunned the hosts in the 36th with an equaliser,
tapping in after keeper Rene Adler failed to block.
Another defender, Dante, put the visitors in the lead nine
minutes after the restart but Swiss international Eren Derdiyok
levelled with a shot inside the box in the 60th minute before
Kroos netted the winner with his sixth goal of the season.
Bayern had a trouble-free afternoon against Hertha, with
defender Daniel van Buyten opening the score before Mario Gomez
and Arjen Robbed added a brace within two minutes to warm the
hearts of fans watching in temperatures of minus 10 degrees
Celsius.
Midfielder Thomas Mueller made it 4-0 on the hour before
Adrian Ramos pulled one back for Hertha. Ivica Olic scored
Bayern's fifth with Raffael heading in Hertha's second in the
final minute.
(Writing by Karolos Grohmann; Editing by Clare Fallon; To
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