An entertaining slate of matches on Saturday saw Bayern Munich explode for eight goals and the race for the league’s Golden Boot heated up. Elsewhere, Bayer Leverkusen ran into trouble and Augsburg produced a late winner.
Bayern Munich vs Hamburg
It was a dominant performance for Bayern on Saturday afternoon as the club defeated Hamburg 8-0. Robert Lewandowski led the way for the home side with a hat-trick, the Polish international is now tied with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyeng for the league’s top scorer spot.
Four other players were on the score sheet for Bayern, including Kingsley Coman, who scored a brace in the second half to end a scoring drought dating back to March of 2015. Other goal scorers included Arturo Vidal, David Alaba and Arjen Robben.
This wasn’t the first time that Bayern have blown out Hamburg. In 2015, they defeated them by the same scoreline, 8-0. In the last seven away fixtures against Bayern, Hamburg have conceded a whopping 44 goals.
Bayer Leverkusen vs. Mainz
Two goals from Mainz in the opening quarter hour were enough to claim victory at Leverkusen. Stefan Bell scored in the third minute when he headed home a goal off of a corner. Just eight minutes later, Levin Öztunali’s free kick sneaked into the bottom corner of the net to make it 2-0. The goal gave Mainz their league leading 12th goal from a set piece.
Jonas Lössl had a terrific match in net, which allowed him to pick up his fourth clean sheet of the season in the league.
Leverkusen face yet another set back in their push for the European places. They must now turn their attention to next week’s match against Borussia Dortmund.
RB Leipzig vs. FC Köln
A host of first half errors doomed FC Köln at the Red Bull Arena. The visitors went down inside five minutes as a poor clearance allowed Emil Forsberg to score the opening goal. Things would get worse in the 34th minute as Dominic Maroh turned in a cross into his own net. At halftime it was 2-0 to RB Leipzig.
In the second half, Köln came out of the locker room with a goal from Yuya Osako in the 53rd minute. However, any chance of a comeback was erased by Timo Werner who created a goal out of nothing to record his 13th of the season. The German striker received a long pass from Naby Keita and put a shot past the keeper from a tight angle.
Leipzig only remain five points from first and have won two consecutive matches after losing two continuous matches. All of their next four league matches will be against clubs that are currently in the bottom half of the table. A Champions League qualification spot looks a strong possibility for the newly promoted side.
SC Freiburg vs. Borussia Dortmund
Borussia Dortmund manager Thomas Tuchel recorded his 100th win as a Bundesliga manager, as the club completed the league double against SC Freiburg with a 3-0 clean sheet victory.
Aubameyeng was the man of the match for the visitors, the Gabonese striker recorded a second-half brace to lead Dortmund to victory. His two goals moved him up into sixth in the club’s all-time leading goal scorers list.
This was the 12th consecutive win for Dortmund against Freiburg. The last time they suffered defeat to their opponents was in 2010.
Darmstadt vs. Augsburg
A late goal from Raul Bobadilla saw Augsburg escape with a narrow 2-1 win on the road. The Paraguayan ended Darmstadt‘s bid for a crucial home win as the club sit rock bottom in the table.
The hosts had taken the initial lead in the 47th minute when Marcel Heller fired home from close range. Less than ten minutes later, the visitors were back on level terms when Paul Verhaegh converted a penalty.
As a result, Augsburg complete the league double over Darmstadt and are only a few points away from moving out of the bottom half of the table.
Hertha Berlin vs. Eintracht Frankfurt
Hertha Berlin were victorious in front of their home crowd on Saturday night as they defeated ten-man Eintracht Frankfurt 2-0. The visitors were reduced when Haris Seferovic was sent off for catching Niklas Stark in the face. It was already 1-0 at that point thanks to a goal from Vedad Ibisevic in the 52nd minute. Vladimir Darida put the result beyond doubt the 83rd minute with his second goal of the season.
Frankfurt are in trouble as they have now lost three consecutive league matches and haven’t recorded a goal in all three. Makoto Hasebe did appear in his 234th game, which equals the most by a Japanese player in the Bundesliga.
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