Bayern Munich warmed up for Wednesday’s visit of Napoli in the Champions League with a 4-0 hammering of Bavarian neighbours Nuremberg yesterday.
It was Bayern’s eighth straight home win as Germany stars Mario Gomez, twice, and Bastian Schweinsteiger, plus France playmaker Franck Ribery, all netted.
Borussia Moenchengladbach were the last visiting team to score in Munich when they poached a shock 1-0 win on August 7 and Bayern have since turned the Allianz Arena into a fortress by scoring 22 goals without reply.
The win extends Bayern’s lead at the top of the Bundesliga table to four points, while they are two points clear at the top of Group A in the Champions League.
Before the weekend, goalkeeper Roman Weidenfeller of champions Borussia Dortmund said the Bundesliga title race was far from over, but on this sort of form, Bayern look unstoppable.
Gomez opened the scoring after just two minutes before Schweinsteiger hit a thunderbolt shot from the edge of the area on 19 minutes.
Ribery then made it 3-0 at the break when he found the net with a superb individual goal six minutes before half-time.
Germany midfielder Toni Kroos set up Gomez for his 50th goal since joining Bayern in June 2009, beating the defence and crossing for his international team-mate to turn the ball into an empty net on 68 minutes.
Dortmund drop to third in the table after they were held 1-1 at Stuttgart, where the kick-off was delayed by 15 minutes as the guests were caught in a motorway traffic jam en route.
Germany defender Serdar Tasci put Stuttgart ahead on 22 minutes, but on the stroke of half-time teenage Germany star Mario Goetze put in a superb ball for Shinji Kagawa to square for Lukasz Piszczek to put Dortmund level.
Schalke 04 take over second in the table, four points behind Bayern, after they enjoyed a 3-1 win over Hoffenheim.
After veteran Spanish star Raul had put the Royal Blues ahead, Bosnia striker Vedad Ibisevic levelled for the guests before Dutch striker Klaas-Jan Huntelaar secured the three points with two goals in as many second-half minutes.
Werder Bremen moved up to fourth after they came from behind to win 3-1 at Mainz in the evening match. It was the hosts’ ninth league game without a win.
Gladbach are joint-fourth in the table after Germany’s rising star Marco Reus scored both their goals in a 2-1 win over Hanover.
Results, standings
B. Munich vs Nuremberg - 4-0
B. M’gladbach vs Hanover - 2-1
Mainz vs W. Bremen - 1-3
Schalke vs Hoffenheim - 3-1
Stuttgart vs B. Dortmund - 1-1
Wolfsburg vs H. Berlin - 2-3
Freiburg vs B. Leverkusen - 0-1
| P | W | D | L | F | A | Pts | |
| B. Munich | 11 | 8 | 1 | 2 | 30 | 3 | 25 |
| Schalke 04 | 11 | 7 | 0 | 4 | 22 | 16 | 21 |
| B. Dortmund | 11 | 6 | 2 | 3 | 21 | 8 | 20 |
| W. Bremen | 11 | 6 | 2 | 3 | 20 | 14 | 20 |
| B. M’gladbach | 11 | 6 | 2 | 3 | 13 | 8 | 20 |
| Stuttgart | 11 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 17 | 9 | 18 |
| Hanover | 11 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 14 | 15 | 18 |
| B. Leverkusen | 11 | 5 | 2 | 4 | 13 | 14 | 17 |
| Hoffenheim | 11 | 5 | 1 | 5 | 14 | 12 | 16 |
| Hertha Berlin | 11 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 15 | 15 | 16 |
| Wolfsburg | 11 | 4 | 1 | 6 | 14 | 20 | 13 |
| Cologne | 10 | 4 | 1 | 5 | 15 | 23 | 13 |
| Nuremberg | 11 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 12 | 18 | 12 |
| Kaiserslautern | 10 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 8 | 13 | 11 |
| Mainz | 11 | 2 | 3 | 6 | 13 | 22 | 9 |
| Augsburg | 10 | 1 | 5 | 4 | 8 | 17 | 8 |
| Hamburg | 10 | 2 | 2 | 6 | 12 | 22 | 8 |
| Freiburg | 11 | 2 | 1 | 8 | 14 | 26 | 7 |
Today
Cologne vs Augsburg - 15.30
Hamburg vs Kaiserslautern - 17.30