Flying Dortmund; plodding Bayern stays level

BERLIN: Borussia Dortmund steam-rolled hapless Freiburg 5-0 while Bayern Munich plodded past VfL Wolfsburg 1-0 as the two arch-rivals remained unbeaten and level on points at the top of the Bundesliga on Saturday.
The two wins could not have been more different, with Dortmund creating countless chances against outclassed opponents and Bayern struggling to get into gear against well-organized but toothless opponents.
Marco Reus and Robert Lewandowski each scored twice for Dortmund and Jakub Blaszczykowsi completed the rout, while winless Freiburg had Fallou Diagne sent off before halftime.
Bayern, who came to life only after Xherdan Shaqiri came on as a second-half substitute, took the three points thanks to Thomas Mueller’s first league goal of the season.
Both teams have 19 points from seven games with Dortmund, who have scored 21 goals to Bayern’s 14, ahead on goal difference.
Bayer Leverkusen’s 2-0 win over Hanover 96 kept them one point behind in third while Hertha Berlin came from behind to beat Mainz 05 3-1 and Hoffenheim fought back from two goals down to draw 3-3 with Schalke 04.
Dortmund were so dominant that Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang could easily have had a hat-trick against Freiburg.
Last season’s Bundesliga and Champions League runners-up created at least half a dozen chances before Reus snapped up a rebound to put them ahead in the 35th minute.
They increased their lead on the stroke of halftime when Lewandowski was pushed by Diagne, fell theatrically backwards and was awarded a penalty while the Senegalese defender was sent off. Reus converted the penalty and the rest was a foregone conclusion.
Lewandowski opened his account just before the hour with a brilliantly taken goal. He controlled Reus’s long pass on his chest with his back to goal, held off two defenders and dinked the ball into the net. The Pole then turned in Jonas Hofmann’s cross and his compatriot Jakub Blaszczykowski completed the scoring with 10 minutes to go.
Bayern’s uninspired win was in complete contrast, the only goal coming when Shaqiri sliced open the Wolfsburg defense with a diagonal pass to Franck Ribery and the Frenchman’s low cross was turned in at the far post by Mueller.
First-half goals from Simon Rolfes and Sidney Sam were enough for Leverkusen at home to Hanover 96 while Sami Allagui scored twice for promoted Hertha Berlin in their 3-1 win over Mainz.
Schalke 04 failed to build on an excellent start at Hoffenheim where Kevin-Prince Boateng sidefooted them ahead and Joel Matip headed a second before the 15th minute. Anthony Modeste pulled one back from close-range but Marco Hoeger burst through the Hoffenheim defense to restore Schalke’s two-goal advantage five minutes before the break.
A Robert Firmino penalty and David Abraham free kick gave Hoffenheim their second 3-3 home draw of the season with Firmino hitting the bar on the break near the end.