Bayern sting Schalke to stay top

Monday, 24 September 2012 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Reuters: Flawless Bayern Munich struck twice in three minutes to beat Schalke 04 2-0 on Saturday and stay top of the Bundesliga with four wins from four as rivals Borussia Dortmund lost 3-2 at Hamburg SV to end a 31-match unbeaten run.

Visitors Bayern, fresh from their opening 2-1 Champions League win over Valencia on Wednesday, took the lead in the 55th minute when in-form Toni Kroos - set up by Thomas Mueller - curled a low shot from 14 metres past keeper Lars Unnerstall.

Mueller then scored the second goal himself, threading the ball through the legs of defender Christian Fuchs on the right and slipping a shot between two others for his fourth goal of the season to silence the 61,000 crowd at the Auf Schalke Arena.

Bayern, who were without injured Franck Ribery, have now won all games in every competition so far this season and are on 12 points along with promoted Eintracht Frankfurt who beat Nuremberg 2-1 on Friday.

Schalke, who showed none of the attacking flair that earned them a 2-1 win at Olympiakos in their midweek Champions League group match, imploded following the quickfire goals and failed to threaten the Bayern goal.

Champions Dortmund are five points behind, after Hamburg battled to victory with two goals from South Korea’s Son Heung-min.

The hosts needed just two minutes to score when Rafael van der Vaart was given far too much space on the left to cross and Son beat Mats Hummels to head in his second goal of the season.

Mainz 05 climbed up to 11th place with a 2-0 home win over Augsburg while promoted Fortuna Duesseldorf, still undefeated, shared the points with Freiburg in their goalless draw. Hanover 96 will move two points behind Bayern and Frankfurt with a win at troubled bottom club Hoffenheim on Sunday while Borussia Moenchengladbach take on Bayer Leverkusen and Werder Bremen welcome VfB Stuttgart.