Bundesliga Wrap, Week 11: Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund keep winning; Bayer Leverkusen lose to Eintracht Braunschweig

Fresh off of their big win last weekend in the Revierderby, Borussia Dortmund showed absolutely no mercy against Stuttgart. Robert Lewandowski led them with a hat trick.

Full Match Report

Christian Streich’s men finally grabbed their first win of the season with an emphatic 3-0 victory over Nürnberg. Freiburg took the lead in the second half when Felix Kraus headed in a cross from Sebastian Freis. Freiburg defender Oliver Sorg was sent off, but they kept coming at the Nürnberg defense. Vladimir Darida and Admir Mehmedi would score to cap off the fantastic afternoon.

Bayern tied Hamburg’s long-standing Bundesliga record of 36 matches unbeaten with the 2-1 victory over Hoffenheim. The Bavarians looked like they were going to score three or four goals in the first half hour, but none of them came to fruition. Then, in the 34th minute, Hoffenheim took an unsuspecting lead. Manuel Neuer underestimated a cross and missed the ball, and Niklas Süle was on hand at the back post to put the ball in the back of the Bayern net to give Hoffenheim the advantage. Bayern pulled level after only a couple of minutes when Mario Mandzukic redirected Franck Ribery’s free kick into the goal. Late in the second half, Ribery was provider again, this time to Thomas Müller. He poked the ball home to give Bayern the victory to keep them at the top of the table.

Gladbach picked up their first win away from Borussia Park on Saturday with a 2-0 victory over Hamburg. Max Kruse was the man of the match, notching both goals in the shutout victory. His first came when he intercepted a backpass from Lasse Sobiech and beat Rene Adler for the 1-0 lead. Kruse doubled the score in the 63rd minute when he finished a pass from Raffael.

Oh, geez. Braunschweig picked up their first home win of the season, and they did it against Leverkusen. Domi Kumbela scored the goal in the 81st minute after redirecting Norman Theuerkauf’s shot into the back of the net. Perhaps, Sami Hyypiä learned the lesson that his club isn’t as deep as Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund, and it wasn’t a good idea to not start Stefan Kießling, Sidney Sam, and Heung-Min Son.

Adam Szalai scored in the first half, and Julian Draxler put a bow on it with a goal in stoppage time. Schalke got back in the win column after last week’s Revierderby loss. Hertha started strong, but Schalke began to exert themselves on the match and capitalized through the Hungarian’s head in the 26th minute. Änis Ben-Hatira still managed to find himself in good scoring chances but was never able to beat Timo Hildebrand in the Schalke goal. Draxler secured the victory with a late goal.

The match started poorly for Frankfurt and Bamba Anderson, in particular. Patrick Ochs sent in a hard cross in the 2nd minute, and the Brazilian knocked it into his own net when trying to clear the ball. Alexander Meier scored a spectacular free kick in the 35th minute to equalize. Maximilian Arnold was the hero once again for Wolfsburg, as he turned in Ochs’ late shot to give Wolfsburg the important 2-1 victory. Die Wölfe is up to fifth in the table.

Andre Hahn was the star of the day, scoring twice to lead Augsburg to their first victory since Week 5. Maxim Choupo-Moting converted a penalty in the 59th minute to keep Mainz in the match, but a late red card to goalkeeper Christian Wetklo ended any and all hopes of a comeback.

Werder picked up their second win since August 17th with a 3-2 victory over Hannover on Sunday. Both sides scored via penalties within minutes of each other in the 20th and 25th minutes. Szabolcs Huszti was fouled by Clemens Fritz and converted the penalty to give Hannover the lead, but Aaron Hunt equalized from the spot after Salif Sane fouled Eljero Elia. Before the first half was completed, both teams would score again. In the 38th minute, Cedrick Makiadi headed Werder into the lead, but Hiroki Sakai tied the match up three minutes later with a fantastic goal from distance. Santiago Garcia gave Werder the win in the 86th minute. His first effort was saved on the line by Ron-Robert Zieler, but he converted his second effort for all three points.