Bundesliga Saturday
September 12, 2009
Bayern Munich are back in form and with a convincing win over Dortmund, they've moved up to fourth in the table. The team came from behind at Borussia Dortmund for a 5-1 victory leaving little doubt who was in charge on the pitch.
Bayern fell behind after 10 minutes thanks to Dortmund's Mats Hummels, but Mario Gomez netted the first-half equaliser. After half-time French midfielder Franck Ribery was added to the Bayern squad and immediately wreaked havoc.
He set up Bastian Schweinsteiger to put his side ahead and then slotted home a free-kick himself. 19-year-old substitute Thomas Mueller bagged two in the final 20 minutes to give Bayern a dream result.
This result gives the team their second win this season after a disastrous first couple of games when they dropped to 16th in the league. The decisive win also took a lot of pressure off Dutch coach Louis van Gaal who had been under fire after the poor results at the start of the season.
"In the second half, the team's individual quality made all the difference. I am pleased we scored such good goals after a heavy week of lots of international football," van Gaal said after the game.
Hamburg at the top of the table
Hamburg beat Stuttgart 3-1 remaining at the top of the table. Goals from Mladen Petric, Eljero Elia and Ze Roberto helped Hamburg defend their lead.
Russia striker Pavel Pogrebnyak scored the goal for Stuttgart. Both Hamburg and Leverkusen now have13 points but Hamburg are ahead on goal difference.
Another big match of the day was Wolfsburg against Bayer Leverkusen and last season's champions Wolfsburg experienced a bitter defeat. At the end they were 3-2 down and Leverkusen moved to second place in the table.
Both sides had a player sent off. Two goals by Simon Rolfes put Leverkusen ahead and Stefan Kiessling got the third. Wolfsburg fought back with goals by Zvjezdan Misomovic and Grafite but for Wolfsburg, that was too little, too late.
Last year's surprise success story, Hoffenheim, defeated Bochum 3-0 and are now fifth in the Bundesliga.
Nuremberg for the first time this season took home three points with a 1-0 victory over Moenchengladbach, while promoted side Mainz beat Hertha Berlin 2-1.
Eintracht Frankurt scored a 2-0 victory over Freiburg and move to third in the table.
On Sunday, Werder Bremen is to take on Hanover while Cologne is to host Schalke.
ai/dpa/Reuters/AFP
Editor: Tony Dunham