BERLIN (AFP) - Hamburg's disgruntled captain Rafael van der Vaart scored a second-half penalty to seal a 1-0 win over Bayer Leverkusen on Sunday but his efforts were overshadowed by a deepening controversy over his desire to leave the Bundesliga club.

Van der Vaart slotted home the 64th-minute spot-kick after Bayer defender Arturo Vidal was punished for a handball.

The win put Hamburg into second place in the table, behind leaders Bayern Munich, but the goal will have done little to rescue the Dutchman's reputation.

He may well have played his last game for the Bundesliga side after a photograph of him wearing a Valencia shirt appeared in the press over the weekend.

The attacking midfielder poured oil on the fire before the game when he told German Sunday newspaper Bild am Sonntag: "Hopefully I will be wearing the (Valencia) shirt soon.

"I will fight to make it a reality."

Van der Vaart admitted on Sunday he was wrong to let the photograph go to print, although he has made no secret of his desire to move to Spain despite being contract until 2010.

Hamburg have now taken legal action to stop the Spanish giants talking to the 24-year-old Dutch international who wants to play in the Champions League.

The German club have already turned down a 14-million-euro offer from the Spaniards.

Banners at Hamburg's HSH Nordbank Arena on Sunday read "A contract is a contract - even for van the Vaart".

The transfer window is set to close on August 31, but van der Vaart has said: "Hopefully by then I won't be at Hamburg."

Also on Sunday, VfL Bochum's Danish midfielder Tommy Bechmann sealed a 2-1 win at Energie Cottbus for whom Armenian midfielder Ervin Skela grabbed a consolation.

On Saturday, Bayern Munich enhanced their reputation as the side to beat as France international Franck Ribery led the charge in a 4-0 win over Werder Bremen.

Ribery opened the scoring and bossed Bayern's midfield as the German giants ran riot against a Bremen side depleted by injuries to key midfielders Torsten Frings and Tim Borowski.

Having finished third in last season's Bundesliga, Bremen had no reply to Bayern's newly-recruited stars as Ribery converted a 31st minute penalty and Italian striker Luca Toni found the back of the net after the break.

Super sub Hamit Altintop then struck with 10 minutes remaining before fellow replacement Andreas Ottl sealed the win which means Bayern top the league and have now scored seven goals without reply from their first two games.

Defending champions VfB Stuttgart suffered a surprise 3-1 defeat at Hertha Berlin, while last season's runners-up Schalke 04 enjoyed a 4-1 win at home to bitter rivals Borussia Dortmund.

After their 3-0 defeat at Bayern last weekend, Hansa Rostock's bad start to the season continued as they were beaten 2-1 at Nuremberg.

VfL Wolfsburg enjoyed a 3-1 win at Duisburg, while Arminia Bielefeld were held 2-2 at Eintracht Frankfurt.

On Friday night, Hanover had to come from behind to beat Karlsruhe.