Lewandowski nets again as Bayern go seven clear

Robert Lewandowski claimed his 12th goal in his last four games as Bundesliga leaders Bayern Munich trounced second-placed Borussia Dortmund 5-1 to go seven points clear on Sunday. The Polish hot-shot netted Bayern's third and fourth goals at Munich's Allianz Arena after Thomas Mueller's double, including a first-half penalty, before Mario Goetze grabbed Bayern's fifth to compound his former club's misery. "It's a big win. It's good to have a seven-point advantage and also to have won in the way we did," said Mueller. "But we have to keep going and keep collecting points after the international break." Having sent Bundelsiga records tumbling by scoring five in just nine minutes in the 5-1 thrashing of Wolfsburg less than a fortnight ago, Lewandowski has scored each game since, including a hat-trick in the 5-0 Champions League rout of Dinamo Zagreb. Lewandowski is the Bundelsiga's top scorer with 12 goals with Gabon striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang just behind him with 10 in eight matches. Dortmund suffered their first defeat in 15 games under new coach Thomas Tuchel. The gap between the chasing pack and Bayern already looks ominous with Pep Guardiola's Bavarians hunting an unprecedented fourth straight league title. "We struggled in the first 15 minutes, but our third goal made the difference," said Guardiola. "We are very happy as we have beaten one of the best teams in Europe." Bayern stepped up a gear when Mueller controlled Jerome Boateng's long ball and beat Dortmund goalkeeper Roman Burki on 26 minutes. Dortmund conceded a penalty when Henrikh Mkhitaryan fouled Thiago in the area and Mueller drilled home the spot-kick on 35 minutes to double the hosts' lead. The visitors fought back on 36 minutes when Aubameyang swept home Gonzalo Castro's superb cross, but it was all Bayern from then on. Lewandowski made it 3-1 on 46 minutes when he finished off his half-chance after another superb long ball from Boateng. The floodgates opened when Lewandowski slotted home Goetze's great cross on 58 minutes, then Goetze then hit the back of the net from 12 metres out on 66 minutes. - Peerless - Bayern have now beaten both last season's runners-up Wolfsburg and Dortmund by the same heavy scoreline in recent weeks and are peerless in Germany. "We weren't as clinical as they were in the final third," said Tuchel. "The goals from the long balls were just too easy for them." Fresh from their disappointing 2-1 mid-week defeat at Barcelona, Bayer Leverkusen drew 1-1 at home to Ausgburg despite a calamitous own-goal from Bayer goalkeeper Bernd Leno that was cancelled out by Karim Bellarabi's equaiser. Earlier, third-placed Schalke crashed to their first defeat in seven games with a 3-0 loss at home to Cologne, who took their chance to climb to fifth. Cologne's French striker Anthony Modeste claimed his sixth goal in eight matches before the visitors ran riot in the final ten minutes with goals by Yannick Gerhardt and Simon Voller. On Saturday, Borussia Moenchengladbach continued their rise up the table and bounced back from their midweek Champions League defeat against Manchester City with a 2-0 win over Wolfsburg. Goals by Norway midfielder Haavard Nordtvelt and French-born Guinean winger Ibrahima Traore left Gladbach 13th while Wolfsburg dropped to ninth. It was Gladbach's third straight league win under caretaker coach Andre Schubert following Lucien Favre's sudden resignation. - Hertha continue rise - Hertha Berlin went fourth with a 3-0 home win over Hamburg as Salomon Kalou gave the hosts a first-half lead, then Vedad Ibisevic netted twice in as many minutes. Germany international winger Kevin Volland scored twice for Hoffenheim in their 2-2 draw at VfB Stuttgart, who went bottom despite Pirmin Schwegler scoring their 90th-minute equaliser. Hanover won their first match of the season as they defeated Werder Bremen 1-0 thanks to the only goal on 56 minutes through French-born Senegalese international Salif Sane. Bavaria's Ingolstadt, who are in their debut Bundesliga season, defeated Eintracht Frankfurt 2-0 with late goals from Pascal Gross and Stefan Lex to take sixth spot. On Friday, Mainz are eighth after evening their record at four wins and four defeats in a thrilling 3-2 victory at promoted Darmstadt, who are 10th.