First league win for Klinsmann as Bayern hammer Hertha

Defending champions Bayern Munich got their first league win of the season at the third attempt to give Jurgen Klinsmann his opening Bundesliga victory as Hertha Berlin were humbled 4-1 on Sunday.

After drawing with both Hamburg and Dortmund in their opening games, Bayern coach Klinsmann was under pressure after his star-studded team had failed to fire, but the ex-Germany coach was all smiles after his side’s win.

“The team did all the things we had planned to do from the outset,” said a beaming Klinsmann after the final whistle at Munich’s Allianz Arena.

“We forced the goals and played very well, things are starting to roll now.”

Bayern are now up to seventh in the table having dominated Hertha from the start as Italian World Cup winner Luca Toni scored on 12 minutes with an individual strike after slipping the Berlin defence.

Germany defender Philipp Lahm then added a second with a right-foot thunderbolt on 54 minutes before his Mannschaft colleague Bastian Schweinsteiger converted the penalty he was awarded just two minutes later.

“Things just went well for us,” said Schweinsteiger.

“But we can still play much, much better.”

It was a bad afternoon for Berlin’s Swiss defender Steve von Bergen.

Having tripped Schweinsteiger, he then conceded a second penalty after fouling Bayern midfielder Ze Roberto for striker Miroslav Klose to make it 4-0 on 61 minutes.

“In the last few weeks, I have worked hard and this goal is a good indicator for me,” said Klose.

Hertha’s Serbian striker Marko Pantelic managed a consolation goal with time running out, but it capped a bad day for Berlin who drop from third to tenth after the weekend’s results.

Also on Sunday, VfB Stuttgart moved up to fifth in the table after their 2-0 win over Hanover thanks to first-half goals by Germany forward Mario Gomez and a penalty from Mexico midfielder Pavel Pardo.

On Saturday, Schalke 04 went top of the Bundesliga thanks to a superb header from Germany defender Heiko Westermann to seal a 1-0 win over VfL Bochum to knock Hoffenheim from top place.

Having earned their second promotion in two seasons, Hoffenheim had shocked the German league by taking an early lead at the top of the table with wins over Borussia Moenchengladbach and Energie Cottbus.

But two second-half strikes by Germany striker Stefan Kiessling ended Hoffenheim’s hopes on Saturday despite a brief fightback as they went down 5-2 to leave Bayer Leverkusen fourth.

Hamburg are second in the table, and level on seven points with Schalke, after coming from behind in Bielefeld to claim a 4-2 win.

Despite being drawn with Inter Milan in Group B of this season’s Champions League competition, Werder Bremen suffered the humiliation of being humbled 3-2 by newly-promoted Borussia Moenchengladbach.

Also on Saturday, Wolfsburg drew 2-2 with Eintracht Frankfurt while Borussia Dortmund are up to third in the table, also on seven points, with a 1-0 win over Energie Cottbus.

Cologne’s Turkish defender Umit Ozat was given a clean bill of health by doctors and released from hospital on Saturday after collapsing during his side’s 2-0 win at Karlsruhe on Friday night.

Ozat, 31, lost consciousness after 25 minutes of the match for no apparent reason and was stretchered off after teammates signalled to the bench he needed treatment. The match resumed five minutes later and Cologne went on to win 2-0.