Champions Bayern Munich needed an 88th-minute winner by Joshua Kimmich to beat Hamburg 1-0 yesterday and protect their three-point lead at the top of the Bundesliga.
Strugglers Hamburg had battled hard to protect a goalless draw and end a three-game losing run, with goalkeeper Rene Adler making a string of key saves before Kimmich drilled in a Franck Ribery cutback at the far post.
The result lifted Bayern to 15 points, three ahead of Borussia Dortmund, who beat Freiburg 3-1 on Friday.
Bayern, who take on Atletico Madrid in the Champions League this week, faced a determined Hamburg team, who were looking to turn their season start around, pressing them high and allowing just three shots on target in the first half.
The champions’ first big chance came after almost an hour with Javi Martinez’s effort cleared on the line by Adler, who was also on hand to save a curled David Alaba free-kick 10 minutes later.
Bayern coach Carlo Ancelotti brought on Ribery and the Frenchman added instant pace down the left wing but neither Thomas Mueller nor Robert Lewandowski could beat Adler from close in.
The keeper was finally beaten when Ribery launched another trademark run, cut across the goalmouth and Kimmich slipped in to score the winner to extend Bayern’s perfect start to the season with their fifth win in five matches.
Eintracht Frankfurt and Hertha Berlin shared six goals in a thriller at the Waldstadion.
Hertha opened the scoring with Vedad Ibisevic converting a penalty after Haris Seferovic fouled Valen-tin Stocker inside the area.
Frankfurt took some time to get settled, but they hit back with two goals before the break. Marco Fabian brought them level before Alexander Meier put them in front on the stroke of half-time.
The game was turned on its head once again in the second half with Ibisevic bringing Hertha level on the volley and Alexander Esswein put them back in front.
There was to be some late drama, though, as Michael Hector headed in an equaliser in stoppage time and completed the scoring.
On Friday, Vincenzo Grifo missed a glorious opportunity early on for Freiburg when he failed to beat Roman Burki in a one-on-one situation, but the rest of the game belonged to Dortmund.
Emre Mor saw a hat-trick of shots deflect behind, one off the crossbar, before Ousmane Dembele intelligently crafted an opener as his low cross to the far post was turned in by Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, who celebrated his 100th Dortmund appearance with his 59th goal.
Lukasz Piszczek added a second early in the second half, but Maximilian Philipp pulled one back soon after.
However, Raphael Guerreiro settled any nerves the hosts may have had in stoppage time with a third goal, sealing a fourth win in five games for Dortmund.
Bundesliga
Augsburg vs Darmstadt - 1-0
Bor. M’gladbach vs Ingolstadt - 2-0
E. Frankfurt vs Hertha Berlin - 3-3
Hamburg vs Bayern Munich - 0-1
Mainz vs Bayer Leverkusen - 2-3
Werder Bremen vs Wolfsburg - 2-1
Playing today
Hoffenheim vs Schalke - 15.30
Cologne vs Leipzig - 17.30