Berlin, Feb 25: Lars Bender scored twice for Bayer Leverkusen to beat Cologne 2-0 in the Bundesliga's Rhine derby on Saturday.
Bender opened the scoring in the 16th minute and claimed his second in the 51st, thanks to an outstanding pass from Renato Augusto.
Veteran coach Otto Rehhagel's long-awaited return to the Bundesliga could not prevent Hertha Berlin slumping to its sixth successive defeat.
Augsburg beat the 73-year-old coach's side 3-0 in his first game in charge to move above the visitors and leave Hertha in the relegation playoff place.
Elsewhere, Stuttgart beat bottom side Freiburg 4-1, Mainz routed Kaiserslautern 4-0 and Hoffenheim won 2-1 at Wolfsburg.
Werder Bremen was scheduled to host Nuremberg later Saturday.
