Bundesliga roundup: Bayern Munich extend lead, Wolfsburg drop points
Berlin, March 8 While Bayern Munich came from behind to beat Hannover 3-1, Augsburg inflicted Wolfsburg their first loss in 2015 in the 24th round of the German Bundesliga. Front-runners Bayern Munich extended their lead atop the standings as they turned the tide against Hannover to earn their fifth straight victory thanks to Thomas Mueller's brace, Xinhua reported on Saturday.
Meanwhile, Hannover wait for their first victory since eight games. A resilient Hannover gave the hosts a hard fight, as the German record champions were unable to produce goal-scoring opportunities. The visitors shocked Bayern with the opener through Hiroshi Kiyotake, who made use of Jimmy Briand's build up play to slot home into the bottom left corner at the 25th minute.
However, it was a short-lived joy for Hannover as Bayern responded only three minutes later. Xabi Alonso utilised a dead ball to curl the ball over the wall into the top left corner to restore parity.
Despite the equaliser Bayern lacked in penetration but an awarded foul play penalty allowed the hosts to grab the lead for the first time when Thomas Mueller made it 2-1 on the score board from the spot at the 61st minute. The Bavarians were not done with the scoring as Mueller sealed his brace 11 minutes later to take the game beyond Hannover's reach.
With the 19th victory of the season Bayern Munich extend their lead to 11 points atop the standings whereas Hannover suffered their 11th loss to slip to 11th place.
Wolfsburg upset by Augsburg
Augsburg ended their winless run of four games by upsetting runner-up Wolfsburg 1-0 on home soil. The "Wolves" suffered their first loss in 2015 to lose ground on front-runners Bayern Munich.
Hard-running Augsburg kept Wolfsburg's dangerous offence at bay for 90 minutes. The former snatched all three points by courtesy of Dominik Kohr, who tapped in the rebound of Tobias Werner's foul play penalty in the 63rd minute.
Wolfsburg pressed for the equaliser but neither Daniel Caligiuri nor in-form striker Bas Dost were able to level the scores in the closing period. The "Wolves" recorded the fourth loss of the season to remain on the second place with 50 points while Augsburg climbed to 5th place with 38 points.
Max Meyer leads Schalke to victory
Schalke returned to winning ways as they downed Hoffenheim 3-1 thanks to two goals by youngster Max Meyer.
The "Royal Blues" got to a perfect start as Christian Fuchs slotted home a drop kick from 16 metres into the bottom left with 12 minutes into the game.
The visitors doubled the lead just before the break when Max Meyer capitalised on Eric-Maxim Choupo-Moting's square pass to tap in the 2-0 lead at the 41st minute.
Schalke's Meyer sewed up his brace after the restart to kill the game thanks to the second assist by Choupo-Moting in the 53rd minute.
Nevertheless, Kevin Volland scored the consolation for Hoffenheim in the 73rd minute to mark the final 3-1 score.
Schalke moved to the 4th place with 38 points whilst Hoffenheim stayed at 7th position with 33 points.
Elsewhere, Hamburg and Dortmund shared the spoils following a goalless draw.
Relegation-threatened Freiburg remained in danger as Bremen sealed a narrow 1-0 away victory, courtesy of Franco di Santo's winner in the 35th minute and third-placed Monchengladbach gave away a two goal lead to share points with Mainz.
The following fixtures are scheduled for Sunday: newly promoted Cologne host Frankfurt and Paderborn encounter Bayer Leverkusen.