Bundesliga Wrap: Augsburg win again, Schalke move level with Leverkusen

Augsburg maintained their impressive form in the second half of the Bundesliga season with a 2-1 win over Borussia Monchengladbach.

Since returning from the mid-season break, Augsburg have won four out of seven league matches and Saturday’s success ensured they now boast just one defeat from 12 games.

Goals from Halil Altintop and Tobias Werner were enough to secure three points this time around, although Markus Weinzierl’s men had to come from behind after Raffael had given Monchengladbach an early lead.

Victory sees Augsburg climb up to sixth place in the Bundesliga table and only seven points behind second-placed Borussia Dortmund.

Schalke put their disastrous recent form behind them with a convincing 4-0 win over Hoffenheim, a triumph that moves them level on points with Bayer Leverkusen in third.

Having conceded a total of 11 goals in defeats to Real Madrid and Bayern Munich, Schalke needed to bounce back and a hat-trick from Klaas-Jan Huntelaar helped secure a return to winning ways.

Leverkusen brought an end to their own poor run of three straight defeats, but had to settle for a 1-1 draw against Hannover.

Gonzalo Castro’s third goal of the season put Leverkusen ahead in the 28th minute, before Artoms Rudnevs swiftly levelled for the hosts.

Bayern Munich’s dominance of the division continues, after the champions recovered from conceding first for only the second time this season against Wolfsburg to record a 16th straight league victory.

Naldo gave Wolfsburg the lead in the 17th minute, but that only served to spark Bayern into life.

After Xherdan Shaqiri had levelled the scores, Bayern scored five goals in the space of 17 second-half minutes to run out 6-1 winners.

Thomas Muller and Mario Mandzukic both scored twice, while Franck Ribery marked his return to fitness with his eighth goal of the season.

Werder Bremen made it back-to-back victories for only the second time this season as Franco Di Santo and Philipp Bargfrede secured a 2-0 win at Nuremberg.

The game featured a remarkable display of honesty from Bremen attacking midfielder Aaron Hunt.

Referee Manuel Grafe awarded the visitors a penalty after deeming Javier Pinola had fouled Hunt inside the area, only for the latter to get up and insist the official overturned the decision as he had not been touched and had in fact tripped.

Stuttgart remain in trouble after a late Ermin Bicakcic strike earned fellow strugglers Eintracht Braunschweig a 2-2 draw.

The side just below Stuttgart, in 16th, are Hamburg, who came from behind to claim a 1-1 draw with Eintracht Frankfurt.