Bundesliga Review: Ribery reaches century, Wolfsburg maintain Bayern pursuit

Franck Ribery’s 100th Bayern Munich goal was enough to seal a 10th consecutive home Bundesliga win for Pep Guardiola’s side on Saturday.

Despite dominating possession, hosts Bayern offered little in the way of attacking threat against Bayer Leverkusen at the Allianz Arena until Ribery, who also became the Frenchman with the most German top-flight appearances, volleyed home six minutes into the second half. 

Victory restored Bayern’s lead at the top to seven points after second-placed Wolfsburg had closed the gap earlier in the day. 

Croatian midfielder Ivan Perisic set up all of Wolfsburg’s goals as Dieter Hecking’s men ran out 3-1 winners at Hannover.

Kevin De Bruyne’s second Bundesliga goal of the campaign put Wolfsburg ahead four minutes into the HDI-Arena clash, but Hannover fought back to restore parity on the stroke of half-time when Joselu connected firmly with Jimmy Briand’s cross to head home

Hecking switched his tactics soon after the restart, bringing on forward Bas Dost and the move came to fruition when the Dutchman headed in from a sublime Perisic cross before Maximilian Arnold fired home to temporarily close the gap between themselves and Bayern to four points.

Jean-Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting bagged a hat-trick as Schalke recorded their first away win under Roberto Di Matteo in emphatic fashion against Stuttgart at the Mercedes-Benz Arena.

Choupo-Moting notched his first a minute in before Max Meyer headed home his second goal of the season to put the visitors 2-0 up just nine minutes later. And Schalke were even further ahead soon after, with Choupo-Moting grabbing his second with a towering header before sealing his treble just after the hour mark.

Meanwhile, Borussia Monchengladbach ended a run of three straight league defeats thanks to a well-earned 3-2 win over Hertha Berlin.

Tony Jantschke put the hosts in front early on before Julian Schieber levelled for Hertha, but second-half goals from Raffael and the impressive Thorgan Hazard secured victory, with Salomon Kalou’s late penalty a mere consolation for the visitors.

Augsburg moved into third place as they came from behind to dispatch Cologne 2-1 courtesy of Alexander Esswein’s late winner, while Paderborn remain four points above the relegation zone as they salvaged a last-gasp point against Freiburg thanks to Elias Kachunga’s 89th-minute equaliser in the day’s remaining fixture.