Arjen Robben scored on his return from injury on Saturday as Bayern Munich defeated visiting Cologne 4-0 for the club’s 1,000th Bundesliga victory.
Robben, who had not played since picking up a groin injury on international duty on Sept. 3, broke the deadlock in the 35th minute after Robert Lewandowski’s initial effort was blocked.
“Very happy,” Robben said. “It’s nice when you are rewarded for your hard work by being back on the pitch.”
Photo: EPA
Arturo Vidal made it 2-0 five minutes later with a slightly deflected effort after Kingsley Coman pulled the ball back, Lewandowski claimed his 13th of the season in the 62nd with a header off Douglas Costa’s free-kick and Thomas Mueller completed the scoring with a penalty in the 77th.
“They defended with 10 men. It was important for us to score the first goal. Then when you get the second goal before halftime — I wouldn’t say it’s settled — but it looks good,” Robben said.
Bayern, who experienced their first defeat of the season at Arsenal in the UEFA Champions League on Tuesday last week, moved provisionally 10 points clear of Borussia Dortmund after extending their league record start to 10 wins from 10 games.
“Nobody can imagine how hard a success it is to be mentally strong every weekend and to win every game,” Bayern coach Pep Guardiola said.
Also on Saturday, Admir Mehmedi scored in the 89th minute for Bayer 04 Leverkusen to overturn a two-goal deficit and beat VfB Stuttgart 4-3, VfL Wolfsburg defeated SV Darmstadt 98 1-0, Eintracht Frankfurt came from behind to win 2-1 at Hannover 96 and Werder Bremen won 3-1 at FSV Mainz 05.
Mitchell Weiser’s 10th-minute deflected strike was enough for Hertha BSC to win the late game 1-0 at promoted Ingolstadt 04. The home side had 16 shots on goal compared with the visitors’ five, but they could not make the breakthrough.
Earlier, Stuttgart went 2-0 up with goals from Martin Harnik in the 51st minute and Daniel Didavi three minutes later.
Karim Bellarabi pulled one back — shortly after coming on as a substitute — only for Lukas Rupp to restore the visitors’ two-goal advantage when he was set up by Timo Werner.
“I believed the whole time that we could come back,” said Leverkusen coach Roger Schmidt, whose last game was a wild 4-4 draw with AS Roma in the UEFA Champions League on Tuesday last week.
Schmidt’s side pulled level with two goals in two minutes from Sebastian Boenisch and Javier Hernandez in the 71st minute, before Mehmedi sealed all the points on a counterattack.
“Whether it’s an issue of tactics or quality, I don’t know,” Didavi said after Stuttgart’s seventh defeat in 10 games.
Daniel Caligiuri’s 78th-minute strike was enough for Wolfsburg to beat Darmstadt and consolidate fourth place.
Frankfurt had 19-year-old Marc Stendera to thank for ending their five-game run without a win.
A brilliant run from Japan international midfielder Hiroshi Kiyotake set up Felix Klaus to put Hannover ahead in the 51st minute, only for Stendera to equalize six minutes later and claim the winner in the 65th.
Three goals in eight minutes gave Bremen a 3-0 halftime lead at Mainz and ended the side’s run of five defeats.
Anthony Ujah scored twice, first with his head in the 39th minute and then with his left boot in the 44th, before Fin Bartels scored in first-half stoppage-time.
Japanese forward Yoshinori Muto claimed Mainz’ last-minute consolation.
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