Borussia Dortmund stormed back to the top of the Bundesliga on Saturday with a 6-2 romp at home to Hamburg SV to knock European champions Bayern Munich off first place.
After Pep Guardiola’s Bayern had briefly claimed top spot with a 2-0 win over Hannover 96, Dortmund replied by routing Torsten Fink’s Hamburg in emphatic style.
“That was simply awesome, it was fun just to watch,” Dortmund coach Jurgen Klopp said. “Toward the end, my heart was singing, and apart from the two goals we conceded, we defended well.”
Photo: Reuters
New signing Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang netted twice, as did Poland international striker Robert Lewandowski, as UEFA Champions League runners-up Dortmund pulled away after Hamburg had leveled at 2-2.
Borussia raced into a 2-0 lead after 22 minutes as Aubameyang celebrated his first start with the opening goal, before fellow new signing Henrikh Mkhitaryan added the second.
Hamburg responded when defender Lam Zhi-gin scored his first goal with a thunderbolt from outside the penalty area on 26 minutes, before centerback Heiko Westermann headed the second on 49 minutes.
However, Dortmund then hit top gear as Aubameyang grabbed his second by burying Mkhitaryan’s pass, before the Gabonese winger set up Lewandowski for Dortmund’s fourth.
With Hamburg’s defense in disarray, Germany international Marco Reus slotted past goalkeeper Rene Adler, then Lewandowski compounded the guests’ misery when he headed the sixth just shy of the final whistle.
Borussia Dortmund remain the only Bundesliga side with a 100 percent record after five matches ahead of Wednesday’s trip to SSC Napoli in their UEFA Champions League opener.
Earlier, second-half goals by Croatia international striker Mario Mandzukic and France international winger Franck Ribery gave Bayern the three points at Munich’s Allianz Arena in their win over Hannover 96.
It was the ideal preparation for Pep Guardiola’s team, who begin their Champions League campaign at home to CSKA Moscow tomorrow, but director of sport Matthias Sammer was far from happy.
“We play football without emotion, we’re just going through the motions, we have to get out of this comfort zone,” Sammer said.
Bayer 04 Leverkusen, who launch their UEFA Champions League campaign at Manchester United tomorrow, warmed up for their Old Trafford clash with a convincing 3-1 win over 10-man VfL Wolfsburg to stay third.
“I’m happy with the second-half performance, we ran around too much early on, but we were better after the break and could have had more goals,” Leverkusen coach Sami Hyypia said.
Germany international winger Sidney Sam put the hosts ahead, before Wolfsburg’s Croatia international Ivica Olic leveled just before the break.
Stefan Kiessling netted twice to give Leverkusen their fourth win from their opening five games, heading home on 65 minutes, before slamming in his second in stoppage-time.
Wolfsburg were reduced to 10 men when former Bayern Munich midfielder Luiz Gustavo was sent off in the final 10 minutes for the second time this season.
The Brazilian had only just returned from suspension after being dismissed in the 2-0 defeat at FSV Mainz 05 at the end of last month.
Schalke 04, who host Steaua Bucharest in the UEFA Champions League on Wednesday, continued their revival by picking up their second victory.
New signing Kevin-Prince Boateng hit the first-half winner against FSV Mainz 05 in only his second league match since arriving from AC Milan.
The victory lifted die Konigsblauen up to eighth, while Mainz were fifth.
Werder Bremen crashed to their third consecutive defeat when they went down 3-0 at home to Eintracht Frankfurt.
Vaclav Kadlec scored two first-half goals, before Sebastian Proedl added a late own-goal to complete Bremen’s misery.
Also on Saturday, Augsburg needed a 90th-minute winner from midfielder Tobias Werner to seal a 2-1 win at home to SC Freiburg.
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