Berlin, Sep 27 (IANS) Bayern Munich maintained their perfect record with a 3-0 win over Mainz whilst Schalke beat Hamburg 1-0 to extend their winning run and Wolfsburg shared the spoils with Hannover at the 7th round of the German Bundesliga on Saturday.
Robert Lewandowski’s brace against Mainz secured front-runners Bayern Munich the seventh victory in as many games while the “Nuellfuenfer” suffered their second straight loss, reported Xinhua.
Mainz invited the visitors from Bavaria to open the scoring with 20 minutes into the game as Pablo De Blasis brought down Kingsley Koeman inside the box. However, Bayern failed to break the deadlock as Thomas Mueller pulled the ball over the crossbar from the spot.
Mainz nearly punished Bayern’s wastefulness but Yoshinori Muto missed the target from promising position moments later. The chance by the hosts seemed to be a wakening call for Bayern as Douglas Costa tested Mainz keeper Loris Karius with a long-range effort before the half time.
Josep Guadriola’s men picked up the pace after the restart to open the scoring through Robert Lewandowki, who marked his 100th Bundesliga goal after heading home a pinpoint cross by Koeman at the 51st minute.
Lewandowski wasn’t done with the scoring as he doubled the lead to mark his 10th goal of the season after rounding goalkeeper Karius. With 10 goals in the first seven games, the Polish international equalled the record by Bayern legend Gerd Mueller.
Mainz were unable to hold the pace thus Koeman tapped home the 3-0 lead following a square pass by Costa at the 68th minute.
With the result, Bayern remain on atop the standings and equal the record of seven wins into the season meanwhile Mainz slip to the 10th place.
Third placed Schalke craved out a hard earned 1-0 victory on the road against Hamburg.
Both sides staged well-positioned defence lines over 90 minutes as a consequence goalscoring opportunities remained rare occurrences. Nevertheless, Schalke wrapped up three points as substitute Leroy Sane rounded Hamburg goalkeeper Jaroslav Drobny, following a through ball by Leon Goretzka, to slot home from very close range at the hour mark.
Hamburg pressed frenetically after the setback but they were unable to overcome Schalke’s bulwark in the closing period.
With the fourth victory in row, Schalke defend their third place whereas Hamburg slip to the 9th place after suffering the third defeat of the season.
Fourth placed Wolfsburg gave away a 1-0 lead to share the spoils with Hannover at the Lower Saxony derby.
Dominant but uninspired “Wolves” scored the opener through Bas Dost following a cross into the box by Daniel Caligiuri before the break. Hannover recovered after the restart and restored parity through Hiroshi Kiyotake, who volleyed home a chest reception from eight meters into the roof of the net.
With the draw, Wolfsburg remain on the 4th place and extend their unbeaten streak to four games while winless Hannover stay in the bottom after earning their second draw.
Elsewhere, Bremen lost 3-0 to Bayer Leverkusen to suffer their third loss in row. The “Werkself” gained confidence for their upcoming UEFA Champions League encounter with Barcelona and sealed their second consecutive win thanks to the goals by Admir Mehmedi, Julian Brandt and Kevin Kampl.
Hoffenheim returned to winning ways due to a 3-1 victory over Augsburg. The “TSG” snatched their first win of the season by courtesy of Kevin Volland’s brace.
Wasteful Stuttgart suffered their sixth loss of the season as clinical Monchengladbach sewed up their second win in row with a 3-1 triumph.
The following fixtures complete the 7th round in Bundesliga on Sunday: Frankfurt host Berlin and Dortmund clash with newly promoted Darmstadt.