Bayern Munich’s Mario Gomez hit a hat-trick as the defending champions went third in the Bundesliga on Saturday with a 5-1 win over Kaiserslautern as leaders Borussia Dortmund drew 1-1 with VfB Stuttgart.
Despite being held, the leaders remain 13 points clear at the top, with Bayern 14 points behind after Gomez netted three second-half goals to bring his tally to 15 in 17 league matches this season.
It makes him the league’s joint top-scorer with SC Freiburg’s Papiss Cisse Demba.
Photo: EPA
“When we win 5-1, that is fantastic,” Bayern coach Louis van Gaal said. “We had lots of problems in the first half, Kaiserslautern were very disciplined and well organized, but we scored two quick goals at just the right time [through Gomez].”
Bayern opened the scoring when Dutchman Arjen Robben latched onto a long pass from Germany star Thomas Mueller, held off a defender and beat Stuttgart goalkeeper Sven Ulreich with almost the last kick of the first half.
Munich went 2-0 up straight after the break when Robben beat two defenders down the left wing and squared the ball to Bastian Schweinsteiger, who offered his Germany teammate Gomez the chance to tap into an empty net.
Kaiserslautern pulled a goal back when Bayern defender Anatoliy Tymoshchuk made a hash of dealing with a cross and the loose ball fell into the path of Czech midfielder Jan Moravek, who fired home in the 62nd minute, but Gomez showed his class with two late goals, before Mueller added the fifth in stoppage-time to complete the rout.
Dortmund had to share the points after Stuttgart’s Russia striker Pavel Pogrebnyak equalized in the 84th minute.
Borussia had opened the scoring just before the halftime break when midfielder Kevin Grosskreutz slid a pass through the Stuttgart defense for teenager Mario Goetze to beat the goalkeeper on 43 minutes.
Stuttgart fought back for a point, but are still 17th in the league, despite the draw.
Cologne dragged themselves out of the bottom three with a 3-0 win at home to Werder Bremen which leaves them 15th, just below Bremen who are 14th.
Germany striker and Cologne captain Lukas Podolski opened the scoring with a well-taken goal in the sixth minute, before Poland midfielder Adam Matuschyk added a second on 33 minutes, then Podolski hit a second with time almost up.
“That was completely disappointing,” Bremen coach Thomas Schaaf said.
Hannover 96 are second in the table despite losing 1-0 at home to Schalke 04.
Schalke, who face Valencia in the last 16 of the Champions League next month, sealed the win when Spanish striker Raul hit his 10th league goal of the season when he netted in the 33rd minute.
The win lifts Schalke up to 10th place.
Former England coach Steve McClaren picked up his first win in 10 matches when his VfL Wolfsburg side earned a 1-0 win at FSV Mainz 05, who drop to fourth.
A header from Wolfsburg defender Simon Kjaer in the 82nd minute after a cross from Brazilian Diego secured the three points.
In Saturday’s other match, Nuremberg came from behind to draw 1-1 against SC Freiburg at the Badenova-Stadion.
Additional reporting by staff writer
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