Bayern Munich maintained their perfect start to the Bundesliga season on Saturday when a 3-1 home win over FSV Mainz 05 gave them a third win in three league matches.
Bayern stay top having raced into a 2-0 lead at the Allianz Arena as Croatia striker Mario Mandzukic bagged his fifth goal in four games after just two minutes, before midfielder Bastian Schweinsteiger added a second, 11 minutes later, with a header.
Mainz pulled a goal back when midfielder Adam Szalai converted a 59th-minute penalty, but Germany midfielder Toni Kroos made sure of the three points for Bayern with a goal in the 92nd minute.
Photo: Reuters
Munich won without Franck Ribery and Arjen Robben after they both picked up thigh injuries in the final training session, while new signing Javier Martinez only came off the bench for the final 15 minutes.
“We produced an excellent half hour of football, the goals were outstanding, but we were too passive in the 15 minutes before the break,” Bayern coach Jupp Heynckes said.
“The 3-1 was [win] well deserved, especially after Javi Martinez came on, we played well going forward and were very intelligent in our play,” he said.
Schalke 04 later went third with a 2-0 win at SpVgg Greuther Fuerth, thanks to goals from teenager Julian Draxler, who turns 19 on Thursday, and midfielder Lewis Holtby.
Former US secretary of State Henry Kissinger was in the stands to watch Fuerth play, having been born in the north Bavarian town before his Jewish family fled Nazi Germany in 1938.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel was at Borussia Dortmund to watch the defending champions enjoy a convincing 3-0 win over Bayer 04 Leverkusen to move up from sixth place to fourth at a sold-out Signal Iduna Park.
The hosts went ahead after Germany defender Mats Hummels headed home on 29 minutes from a corner, then Poland captain Jakub Blaszczykowski made it 2-0 with a crisp strike on 39 minutes. Compatriot Robert Lewandowski added the third on 78 minutes with a header.
“We will take everything positive from this game into the next against Ajax,” Dortmund coach Jurgen Klopp said ahead of Dortmund’s opening UEFA Champions League home match against the Dutch champions tomorrow. “For the first time this season, we did everything on the pitch which we had planned to do.”
Hannover 96 went second after a dramatic 3-2 win over Werder Bremen at home in the north German derby, with Hungarian midfielder Szabolcs Huszti scoring the winner in the 92nd minute.
It was the Hungarian’s second of the game, but his enthusiastic, shirtless celebrations earned him two yellow cards in quick succession and he finished the match being sent off, seconds before the final whistle.
Japan midfielder Hiroshi Kiyotake is making a name for himself in Nuremberg after scoring a 55nd-minute winner in his team’s 3-2 win at Borussia Moenchengladbach to put his side fifth.
Kiyotake set up both of the visitors goals for Timm Klose and Timmy Simons as the guests took a 2-0 lead, before ’Gladbach’s Dutch striker Luuk de Jong and Swiss midfielder Granit Xhaka scored to level.
VfB Stuttgart were held to a goalless draw at home to Fortuna Duesseldorf.
Bologna on Thursday advanced past Empoli to reach their first Coppa Italia final in more than half a century. Thijs Dallinga’s 87th-minute header earned Bologna a 2-1 win and his side advanced 5-1 on aggregate. Giovanni Fabbian opened the scoring for Bologna with a header seven minutes in. Then Viktor Kovalenko equalized for Empoli in the 30th minute by turning in a rebound to finish off a counterattack. Bologna won the first leg 3-0. In the May 14 final in Rome, Bologna are to face AC Milan, who eliminated city rivals Inter 4-1 on aggregate following a 3-0 win on Wednesday. Bologna last reached the
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