Bayern Munich topple Stuttgart

Bayern Munich knocked Stuttgart off the top of the Bundesliga table with a come-from-behind 2-1 victory in the rain at home yesterday.

Schalke 04 moved atop the standings with a 4-2 victory over Energie Cottbus that gave them 26 points while Bayern stayed fourth place on 23 points and Stuttgart, who had won four straight games, slipped to third with 24 points.

Werder Bremen, in second place with 24 points, stumbled ahead of their Champions League clash at home against Chelsea on Wednesday, getting only a disappointing 2-2 draw at lowly Alemannia Aachen.

Stuttgart's Mario Gomez took a pass from Christian Gentner and outsprinted three Bayern defenders before beating Oliver Kahn with an 18-metre shot to the far post in the eighth minute.

It was the eighth goal of the season for Gomez, who is expected to get a nomination soon from Germany coach Joachim Loew.

It put the 21-year-old surprise package at the top of the goal-scoring table with Hertha Berlin's Marko Pantelic.

The Stuttgart goal seemed to jolt the Bavarians alive. Just as they had bounced back last week with two late goals to beat Bayer Leverkusen 3-2, Bayern scored twice in quick succession to the delight of the sell-out crowd of 69,000.

Bayern got a deserved equaliser in the 27th minute when Roy Makaay headed a Phillip Lahm cross from the left past Timo Hildebrand.Claudio Pizarro put Bayern ahead nine minutes later.

The only highlight of the second half was the return of Bayern's long-injured Germany midfielder Sebastian Deisler, who came on in injury time for two minutes to a loud ovation. It was his first match since suffering a knee injury eight months ago.

Bundesliga and German Cup champions last season, Bayern have been feeling the pressure after getting off to their worst start in 32 years with three defeats in their first 12 matches - two of them to teams who were bottom of the table at the time.

Yesterday's match against Stuttgart marked the fourth time this season Bayern had faced a team leading the Bundesliga table.

They had already lost to Werder Bremen 3-1 and managed draws against Nuremberg and Schalke before finally beating Stuttgart, who had climbed to the top of the table with a nine-match undefeated streak.