Cicero author of a double as Hertha Berlin eye great escape

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BERLIN, Feb 21, 2010 (AFP) - Hertha Berlin, the Bundesliga's bottom club, began to dream of an unlikely escape from the drop after a 3-0 win at Freiburg Sunday that had the air of a relegation six-pointer even with 11 games to go.

Hertha, Berlin's only top-flight club, started the day five points adrift at the bottom of the table following a horror-show of a season that had seen them win only two games in 22 outings before the trip to Freiburg.

But Brazilian midfielder Cicero netted twice in an impressive performance that gave the Hertha faithful renewed hope and plunged 15th-placed Freiburg, two points from the drop zone, deep into their own relegation trouble.

The visitors looked the brighter of the two sides from the beginning and took the lead on 28 minutes courtesy of a catastrophic backpass from Cedrick Makiadi that gave Hertha striker Rafael a clear run on goal.

The Brazilian's effort was parried into the path of Columbian Adrian Ramos who fired gratefully into an open goal.

And Hertha doubled their advantage seven minutes later following a flowing move down the left that ended in the 25-year-old Cicero squeezing the ball home from an improbably acute angle for his first goal of the season.

The Freiburg fans booed their team off at half-time but saw no improvement as Cicero, now with an eye for goal, drilled home a long-distance effort on 57 minutes that effectively killed off any further resistance from the home side.

With 33 points still up for grabs, the German relegation battle is already hotting up with only four points separating four clubs - Hertha, Nuremberg, Hanover and Freiburg.

The bottom two are relegated automatically, while the third-from-bottom club must endure a play-off with the third-placed team in the second division.

At the other end of the table, Bayer Leverkusen were hoping to overhaul provisional leaders Bayern Munich, who were surprisingly held to a 1-1 draw away at local rivals Nuremberg on Saturday.

The result ended a 13-game winning streak in all competitions for the German giants but gave them a one point cushion at the top of the table. Leverkusen play 7th-placed Werder Bremen with the chance to go two points clear.

Meanwhile, in Saturday's best match of the day, Stuttgart had the perfect preparation for Tuesday's Champions League visit of Spanish side Barcelona with a 5-1 humiliation of Cologne.

German striker Cacau ran rings around the Cologne defence, netting a first-half hat-trick and then scoring a fourth in the second half to add insult to injury and burnish his credentials for a World Cup spot in the German team.

Fourth-placed Hamburg, minus star signing Ruud van Nistelrooy, out with a thigh strain, failed to pressure the leaders with a disappointing 0-0 draw at home to Frankfurt.

In Sunday's other game, third-placed Schalke, still in the hunt for the title, entertain last season's champions Wolfsburg, who have struggled to maintain their form and have dropped to 13th in the table.