Leaders Bayern Munich set a Bundesliga record for the best start to a season with their eighth successive win on Saturday, crushing promoted Fortuna Duesseldorf 5-0 away.
A Mario Mandzukic goal, Luiz Gustavo’s close-range effort, a second-half Thomas Mueller double and one from Rafinha gave Bayern victory as champions Borussia Dortmund slumped to a 2-1 home defeat by Schalke 04, in a match marred by fan trouble.
“This was our best game of the season. Obviously I am satisfied,” Bayern coach Jupp Heynckes told reporters. “We played outstanding football from the first to the last minute, every player helping the other. We did it extremely well.”
Schalke are third on 17 points while fellow Champions League competitors Dortmund, quickly dropping out of contention, are fourth on 12 level with Bayer 04 Leverkusen.
Their derby was marred by clashes between the supporters outside the stadium as police, who used pepper spray and a water cannon to disperse them, were attacked.
Promoted Eintracht Frankfurt kept up their spectacular opening to the campaign with a 3-1 home victory over Hannover 96 to stay five points behind Bayern in second place.
Leverkusen rescued a 2-2 home draw against FSV Mainz 05 courtesy of an 87th minute Gonzalo Castro goal while VfL Wolfsburg dropped to last place, beaten 2-0 by visitors SC Freiburg to increase pressure on coach Felix Magath.
Bayern, who also set a record for the best goal difference at this stage of the Bundesliga with 26 goals for and only two conceded, got off to a quick start against the league newcomers who had only lost once beforehand.
The visitors put the ball in the net in the 17th minute with Mueller thundering in a left-footed drive after a dazzling quick passing move, but the effort was ruled offside.
The Bavarians were undeterred and got their deserved lead through Croatian Mandzukic’s seventh goal of the season which put him top of the league scorers’ table.
Mandzukic then set up Luiz Gustavo for Bayern’s second goal, heading toward goal for the Brazilian to tap in from less than a meter out.
Shaquille O’Neal is staying with TNT Sports on a new contract worth more than US$15 million per year, Front Office Sports reported on Friday. The news means the cast of Inside the NBA is staying together even as TNT is set to license out the show to ESPN starting next season. TNT was the odd network out in the NBA’s recent TV rights negotiations, as NBC and Amazon joined previous rightsholder ESPN in inking deals for basketball games. That left TNT without a need for pregame and postgame NBA shows. In a trade with ESPN, TNT is licensing Inside the NBA to the
Juventus on Sunday stopped Inter from replacing SSC Napoli at the top of Serie A by beating their fierce rivals 1-0 and moving into the UEFA Champions League positions. Francisco Conceicao made sure that Napoli would stay two points ahead of reigning champions Inter by classily tucking home the winning goal 16 minutes before the end of an entertaining contest in Turin. Portugal attacker Conceicao netted his fourth goal of the season in all competitions after brilliant work from Randal Kolo Muani to give Juve a third straight league win. Juve are in fourth place on 46 points, ahead on goal-difference from SS
Eugenie Bouchard already has her own signature pickleball paddle. She is No. 17 in the pickleball rankings and constantly appears on the main court at events because she is always a big draw. However, just to be absolutely clear, she is not retired from tennis. The 2014 Wimbledon finalist still practices on the tennis court, still competes at tennis events and still has a Women’s Tennis Association ranking (No. 1,288). The Canadian standout just has a new sport that has caught her attention. Bouchard is one of several familiar tennis names — like Jack Sock and Donald Young — crossing over to
Stephen Curry and Jayson Tatum on Sunday combined for 27 points as Shaquille O’Neal’s “Team Shaq” cruised to victory in the new-look NBA All-Star game in San Francisco. Curry, playing on his home court at Golden State’s Chase Center, reeled off a string of trademark three-pointers to help his star-studded lineup coast to a 41-25 victory over Charles Barkley’s “Team Chuck.” Boston Celtics star Tatum finished with 15 points after delivering a dominant performance in a starting lineup that also included Kevin Durant, Damian Lillard and James Harden. Team Shaq’s preparations for the game had been dealt a blow shortly before tip-off when