Bayern Munich struck twice in three minutes to beat Schalke 2-0 yesterday and stay top of the Bundesliga with four wins from four as rivals Borussia Dortmund lost 3-2 at Hamburg to end a 31-match unbeaten run.
Visitors Bayern, fresh from their opening 2-1 Champions League win over Valencia on Wednesday, took the lead in the 55th minute when in-form Toni Kroos – set up by Thomas Mueller – curled a low shot from 14 metres past keeper Lars Unnerstall.
Mueller then scored the second goal himself, threading the ball through the legs of one defender on the right and slipping a shot between two others for his fourth goal of the season to silence the 61,000 crowd at the Auf Schalke Arena.
Bayern, who were without injured Franck Ribery, are on 12 points along with promoted Eintracht Frankfurt who beat Nuremberg 2-1 on Friday.
Champions Dortmund are five points behind after Hamburg battled to victory with two goals from South Korea’s Son Heung-min.
The hosts needed just two minutes to score when Rafael van der Vaart was given far too much space on the left to cross and Son beat Mats Hummels to head in his second goal of the season.
Dortmund instantly took control, launching a barrage of attacks until half-time but neither Marco Reus nor Robert Lewandowski could beat keeper Rene Adler.
Ivan Perisic did it better, lobbing in the equaliser from the left 21 seconds after the restart. In a frantic five-minute spell, however, the hosts struck twice through Ivo Ilicevic and Son before Croat Perisic cut the deficit on the hour.
Dortmund are on seven points like fellow Champions League competitors Schalke while Hamburg, who hold the record for the longest unbeaten run of 36 league games from 1983, managed to lift themselves off the bottom after three straight defeats.
Wolfsburg’s Emanuel Pogatetz scored a curious own goal in their 1-1 draw at home to Gruether Fuerth when he failed to clear a deep kick from Greuther keeper Max Gruen and connected with the ball to send it past his charging keeper Diego Benaglio.
Ivica Olic levelled three minutes before the break after Thomas Kahlenberg’s shot hit the bar and bounced towards the Croat, who had no problem heading it in from five metres out.
Mainz climbed up to 11th place with a 2-0 home win over Augsburg while promoted Fortuna Duesseldorf, still undefeated, shared the points with Freiburg in their goalless draw.
Results, standings
F. Duesseldorf 0 - Freiburg 0
Mainz 2 - Augsburg 0
Hamburg 3 - B. Dortmund 2
Schalke 0 - B. Munich 2
Wolfsburg 1 - G. Fuerth 1
| P | W | D | L | F | A | Pts | |
| Bayern Munich | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 14 | 2 | 12 |
| E. Frankfurt | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 11 | 4 | 12 |
| Hanover | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 9 | 4 | 7 |
| B. Dortmund | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 8 | 5 | 7 |
| Schalke 04 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 7 | 5 | 7 |
| Nuremberg | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 5 | 7 |
| F. Dusseldorf | 4 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 6 |
| Freiburg | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 6 | 6 | 5 |
| Wolfsburg | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 5 |
| B. M’gladbach | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 4 |
| Mainz 05 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 5 | 4 |
| G. Fuerth | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 6 | 4 |
| Werder Bremen | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 5 | 3 |
| B. Leverkusen | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 3 |
| Hamburg | 4 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 5 | 8 | 3 |
| Augsburg | 4 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 7 | 1 |
| Stuttgart | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 7 | 1 |
| Hoffenheim | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 11 | 0 |
Playing today
B. L’kusen vs B. M’gladbach - 15.30
Hoffenheim vs Hanover - 17.30
Werder Bremen vs Stuttgart - 17.30