Bayer Leverkusen raised doubts about its ability to mount a serious title challenge when it let Karlsruhe come from three goals down to claim a memorable 3-3 draw on Saturday.

With Hoffenheim not in action, Leverkusen had a chance to move back on top of the Bundesliga and it seemed certain to do that when Patrick Helmes scored after a few seconds and the visitors improved that lead to 3-0 by the 24th minute.

A lucky deflection off a freekick gave Karlsruhe a lifeline, however, and Leverkusen seemed utterly lost as the host got back to 3-3.

Hoffenheim, which was away to Hertha Berlin yesterday, continues to lead the standings with 25 points from 11 games. Leverkusen is second, also with 25 points but having played 12.

Hamburg rose to third on 23 as it held on for a 2-1 win at home to Borussia Dortmund in a bad-tempered match.

Bayern Munich slips to fourth on 21 but has the chance to go back above Hamburg when it plays at Schalke 04.

Unbeaten at home

VfL Wolfsburg remained unbeaten at home this season as Grafite scored a hat trick in a 3-0 win over Energie Cottbus. Wolfsburg (19) is in sixth place.

Werder Bremen, beaten 0-3 at home to Panathinaikos in the Champions League in midweek, could only draw 0-0 at VfL Bochum and drops to 10th on 17 points.

Leverkusen had racked up four straight 2-0 wins to move up to second and get people talking about it as a dark horse for the title in its first season under Bruno Labbadia.

A return to the top, at least for one night, looked odds on after Helmes strolled through the defense and shot through the keeper's legs with around 30 seconds gone. Stefan Kiessling made it 2-0 with a header and Michal Kadlec cracked in a free kick and the game seemed to be up.

Leverkusen looked comfortable enough even after Kiessling deflected in a free-kick from Antonio da Silva eight minutes before the break but the second half was a different story.

Leverkusen seemed to suffer a crisis of confidence in defence and attack, which became worse after Tim Sebastian converted from a free-kick with an hour gone.

An equalizer began to look inevitable and it came when Aleksandr Iashvili headed in 14 minutes from time.

(Agencies via Shanghai Daily November 10, 2008)