A Stefan Kießling and Gonzalo Castro brace helped Bayer Leverkusen to a fifth win in a row following a 4-0 victory over relegation threatened, Hamburger SV.

Peter Knäbel took over the reins at Hamburger SV following the sacking of Josef Zinnbauer, facing a huge task against Bayer Leverkusen.

The visitors on Saturday afternoon could not have got off to a worse start after Gonzalo Castro gave Leverkusen an early lead.

Kießling then doubled the hosts lead just before half-time, with just his fifth Bundesliga goal of the season, and his first since 4th February.

Hamburg managed just one shot in the first half, to the disappointment of the travelling supporters.

Castro helped himself to another assist, helping Kießling to his sixth goal in the Bundesliga this season, before heaping more misery on Hamburg himself with Leverkusen’s fourth.

Tin Jedvaj, Ömer Toprak and Lars Bender all returned for Leverkusen after their 1-0 win against Schalke 04. Temporary Hamburg manager, Peter Knäbel, made two changes from Josef Zinnbauer’s final game. Matthias Ostrzolek and Petr Jiráček returned to the starting XI in place of Cléber and Rafael van der Vaart.

Karim Bellarabi capitalised on Heiko Westermann’s error, which found the German international with just Rene Adler to beat, who squared the ball to Castro – slotting the ball into an empty net.

Leverkusen dominated for much of the first half, counter-attack after counter, Bellarabi forced another save from Adler, who was kept busy.

Kyriakos Papadopoulos came close to adding another goal for Leverkusen but the Greek international’s header flew just over the crossbar.

Thirty-one year-old Kießling then struck with a diving header just before the break, adding to Hamburg’s woes.

Knäbel brought on Lewis Holtby in a bid to rescure the tie. However, Kießling bagged another from six yards out, firing the ball into the net – with Hamburg’s defence uncoordinated.

Bellarabi caused Hamburg all sorts of problems, and again found Castro open, who grabbed his second of the afternoon with just less than 30 minutes to play.

Hamburg’s 4-0 loss now means that they lay 15th in the Bundesliga, with just 16 goals scored all season.

The result now sees Leverkusen nine points clear of fifth placed Schalke 04 in the race for the place in next seasons Champions League.