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Rediff.com  » Sports » Bundesliga: Flying Dortmund, dull Bayern stay neck and neck

Bundesliga: Flying Dortmund, dull Bayern stay neck and neck

September 29, 2013 08:10 IST
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Borussia Dortmund steam-rollered hapless Freiburg 5-0 while Bayern Munich plodded past VfL Wolfsburg 1-0 as the two unbeaten arch-rivals remained level on points at the top of the Bundesliga on Saturday.

The two wins could not have been more different, with Dortmund creating countless chances against outclassed Freiburg and Bayern struggling to get into gear against well-organised but toothless opponents.

Marco Reus and Robert Lewandowski each scored twice for Dortmund and Jakub Blaszczykowski completed the rout while win-less Freiburg had Fallou Diagne sent off before halftime.

Bundesliga: Flying Dortmund, dull Bayern stay neck and neckBayern, who only came to life after Xherdan Shaqiri came on as a second-half substitute, took the three points thanks to Thomas Mueller's first league goal of the season but coach Pep Guardiola was far from satisfied.

"We won the match but we have to improve some things," he told the club's website.

Both teams have 19 points from seven games with Dortmund, who have scored 21 goals to Bayern's 14, ahead on goal difference.

Hamburg SV, with former Netherlands coach Bert van Marwijk making his first appearance in the hot seat, twice came from behind to draw 2-2 at Eintracht Frankfurt.

Marcell Jansen grabbed a point for the visitors with four minutes to play.

Bayer Leverkusen's 2-0 win over Hanover 96 kept them one point behind the leaders in third spot while Hertha Berlin came from behind to beat Mainz 05 3-1 and Hoffenheim rallied from 3-1 down to draw 3-3 with Schalke 04.

Dortmund, who scored six goals in their previous home game against Hamburg, were so dominant that Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang could easily have had a hat-trick against Freiburg.

Last season's Bundesliga and Champions League runners-up created at least half a dozen chances before Reus snapped up a rebound to put them ahead in the 35th minute.

Dortmund increased their lead on the stroke of halftime when Lewandowski was pushed by Diagne, fell theatrically backwards and was awarded a penalty while the Senegalese defender was sent off.

Reus converted the penalty and the rest was a foregone conclusion.

Lewandowski opened his account just before the hour with a brilliantly-taken goal. He controlled Reus's long pass on his chest with his back to goal, held off two defenders and dinked the ball into the net.

The Pole then turned in Jonas Hofmann's cross and compatriot Blaszczykowski completed the scoring with 11 minutes to go.

Bayern's uninspired win was in complete contrast, the only goal coming when Shaqiri sliced open the Wolfsburg defence with a diagonal pass to Franck Ribery and the Frenchman's low cross was turned in at the far post by Mueller.

First-half goals from Simon Rolfes and Sidney Sam were enough for Leverkusen to down Hanover while Sami Allagui scored twice for promoted Hertha in their 3-1 win over Mainz.

Schalke failed to build on an excellent start at Hoffenheim where Kevin-Prince Boateng sidefooted the visitors ahead and Joel Matip headed a second in the 13th minute.

Anthony Modeste pulled one back from close-range but Marco Hoeger burst through the Hoffenheim defence to restore Schalke's two-goal advantage five minutes before the break.

A Roberto Firmino penalty and David Abraham free kick gave Hoffenheim their second 3-3 home draw of the season while Firmino also hit the bar near the end.

Hamburg, who have the league's worst defensive record, fell behind to a Johannes Flum goal for Eintracht in the 31st minute before Pierre-Michel Lasogga headed them level in first-half stoppage time.

Marco Russ put Eintracht back in front nine minutes after the restart but Jansen curled in the last-gasp equaliser to haul Hamburg out of the bottom three.

Image: Borussia Dortmund's Robert Lewandowski (centre) and Jonas Hofmann celebrate a goal against Freiburg

Photograph: Ina Fassbender/Reuters

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