Bundesliga Review: Wolfsburg slip helps move Bayern well clear

Wolfsburg’s slip-up and a typical Bayern Munich thrashing moved the champions seven points clear at the top of the Bundesliga.

Bayern underlined their dominance over German football with a comprehensive 4-0 victory over Hoffenheim at the Allianz Arena on Saturday.

Hoffe’s bold approach to taking on the champions was always likely to bring a degree of risk, and the backlash began in the 23rd minute when Mario Gotze arrowed home a stunning long-range drive.

Robert Lewandowski was on hand to make it 2-0 with a simple header just before the interval, while Arjen Robben provided a delicate finish for the third and substitute Sebastian Rode took a more robust approach to rounding off the scoring three minutes from time – before there was further misery for the hosts when Adam Szalai was sent off in injury time.

The home crowd also welcomed back Bastian Schweinsteiger from a long-standing knee injury in the second half, and Bayern’s joy was boosted by nearest challengers Wolfsburg losing 3-2 at Schalke.

The Gelsenkirchen club went into the game having won all three of their home games under Roberto Di Matteo and Eric-Maxim Choupo-Moting’s double in the first 22 minutes put them on track.

Christian Fuchs scored an impressive free-kick to put Schalke three to the good before the half-hour and end the game as a contest.

Wolfsburg came back into it though, Ivan Perisic crossed for Ivica Olic to hit back before the interval and Nicklas Bendtner drilled his first Wolfsburg goal – though it was not enough.

Paderborn battled from two goals down to seal a controversial 2-2 Bundesliga draw with Borussia Dortmund.

Dortmund took a deserved early lead through Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s tap-in before Marco Reus slotted home on the stroke of half-time as the visitors looked on course for a second successive league win.

But Lukas Rupp gave the hosts hope midway through the second half with a terrific individual strike before Reus’ afternoon ended following a strong challenge from Marvin Bakalorz, who was arguably lucky to only be given a yellow card.

That injury noticeably rocked Jurgen Klopp’s men, who had a Kevin Grosskreutz effort ruled out for offside when Dortmund led 2-1 and Mahir Saglik’s header snatched a share of the spoils.

Bayer Leverkusen beat Hannover 3-1 to move into fourth place – second-half goals from Stefan Kiessling, Son Heung-min and Karim Bellarabi doing the damage.

Elsewhere, Hertha Berlin moved four points clear of the bottom three with a 2-1 win over Cologne, Eintracht Frankfurt came from behind to beat Borussia Monchengladbach 3-1 and Stefan Bell’s late effort snatched a 2-2 draw for Mainz at home to Freiburg.