Bundesliga: Franco Di Santo nets twice as Werder Bremen beat Hertha Berlin 2-0

Werder Bremen lifted themselves out of the bottom three and up 12th in the Bundesliga thanks to two goals from Franco Di Santo on his comeback from injury.

The Argentinian netted at the end of the first half and again in the 69th minute to seal a 2-0 win over Hertha Berlin, who slip to within a point of the relegation zone.

It was a one-sided encounter at the Weser Stadion and one which will raise a lot of concern for Hertha coach Jos Luhukay, whose side ended 2014 with a 5-0 defeat at home to Hoffenheim and who do not look to have made any progress over the winter.

Bremen, on the other hand, will be buoyed by the return of Di Santo, who struck up a fine partnership with Davie Selke in their attack on his first appearance since November 8.

The only real surprise in the first half was how long it actually took Bremen to take the lead.

They needed 43 minutes in which they had totally dominated, getting in a dozen shots with Di Santo finally netting from a tight angle from Theodor Gebre Selassie's pass.

It was actually Di Santo's first shot of the game, but Selke had provided several with Thomas Kraft's goal under a constant barrage.

At the other end, Raphael Wolf was forced to intervene for the first time early in the second half as Hertha suggested they were going to make a game of it in the final 45 minutes.

Their good intentions soon petered out, though, and Di Santo volleyed in Bremen's second with just over 20 minutes to go, meeting Clemens Fritz's cross after he had been sent to the goal-line by Selke.

The German Under-19 European Championship winner came close to getting his own name on the scoresheet with just a few minutes remaining, but Kraft denied him and ensured his side's defeat was not as embarrassing as it might have been.