Bayern Put Seven Past Bremen to Extend Bundesliga Lead

Posted: 10:53 pm, December 7, 2013 by MunichNOW News

Werder Bremen - Bayern Muenchen -- photo: dpa

Berlin (dpa) – Bayern Munich crushed Werder Bremen 7-0 Saturday to remain unbeaten in the German Bundesliga this season although Bayer Leverkusen remain four points behind after a hard-fought 1-0 victory away to third-placed Borussia Dortmund. Assani Lukimya turned a Franck Ribéry cross into his own net in the 21st minute to give Bayern the lead before a Daniel van Buyten header and Ribéry strike put the match beyond home side Bremen’s reach before half-time.

Ribéry set up Mario Mandžukić to extend Bayern’s lead on the hour mark and Thomas Müller made it 5-0 in the 68th minute with a sweetly struck shot from 10 metres.

France star Ribéry capped a wonderful performance with his second goal of the game eight minutes from time and Mario Götze completed the rout just before the final whistle to make it 7-0 and register Bayern’s 40th Bundesliga game in a row without defeat.

Pep Guardiola (coach Munich) left - Robin Dutt (Trainer Bremen), right photo: photo Revierfoto

“This is the first game in which we played a really good positional game,” said Bayern coach Pep Guardiola after seeing his side remain undefeated in his first 15 Bundesliga matches in charge.

The result sees Bayern move on to 41 points, four clear of Leverkusen who now have a six-point cushion over Dortmund after a first-half goal from Son Heung-Min secured a vital 1-0 win at the Westfalenstadion.

The South Korean latched on to a pass from Gonzalo Castro before curving a shot past the advancing Roman Weidenfeller in the 18th minute to secure the points.

Leverkusen were forced to play the final 10 minutes with just 10 men when Emir Spahic saw a straight red after tussling with Henrik Mkhitaryan following a two-footed challenge on Robert Lewandowski. Dortmund also finished the game with 10 men when Sokratis Papastathopoulos picked up a second yellow card for throwing away the ball in added time.

Borussia Mönchengladbach drew level on points with Dortmund following a 2-1 victory at home to Schalke 04, who played half the game with 10 men following the dismissal of Benedikt Höwedes for two bookable offences.

Farfan put the home side in front with a penalty on 17 minutes and although Raffael equalized for Schalke in the 25th minute with a superb shot from the edge of the area, Max Kruse restored the lead with another penalty after Höwedes handled in area, for which he saw his second yellow.

Martin Harnik put VfB Stuttgart in front at home to Hanover 96 after just 13 minutes and although Hanover struck back with goals from Artur Sobiech and Sane, Vedad Ibišević levelled for Stuttgart to send the sides in level at the break.

Any hopes Hanover had of securing a first away point of the season disappeared, however, when Ibrahima Traoré and Konstantin Rausch netted to secure a 4-2 win for Stuttgart.

Raúl Bobadilla netted the only goal of the game as SV Hamburg were stunned 1-0 at home by Augsburg while Hoffenheim added to Eintracht Frankfurt’s relegation concerns with a 2-1 victory thanks to second-half goals from Sven Schipplock and Roberto Firmino.

In the Friday night game, Nuremberg drew 1-1 at home against Mainz to set a Bundesliga record of 15 straight matches without a victory to start a season.