Munich Move Clear of Rest of Bundesliga

Bayern Munich moved two points clear of second place Werder Bremen and continued their winning streak with a 3-0 victory over Hertha Berlin.

It was Bayern's 500th home win in the Bundesliga and set off rumors that just three weeks into the Bundesliga season the championship had already been decided.

Michael Ballack gave Munich the lead early in the second half on a free kick, and late goals from Mehmet Scholl and Roy Makaay sealed Bayern's spot on top of the Bundesliga table.

"The result camouflages how the game panned out," explained Bayern manager Felix Magath. "Hertha were very defensive due to their injury problems and we had very few chances."

Others can't match Bayern

None of the other teams tied for first going into the weekend's games could match the Bayern result. Cologne, knocked out of the German Cup last weekend, gave up their first loss 3-2 at home to Kaiserslautern, and 1-1 ties were handed out in the three matches between Schalke 04 and Borussia Mönchengladbach; Hamburg SV and Hanover 96; and Werder Bremen and VfB Stuttgart.

Last season's runners-up, Schalke suffered through the disappointing draw at home. For the third game in a row Schalke fell behind with Kasper Bogelund netting on 41 minutes, but Ebbe Sand equalized after 54 minutes, giving the Royal Blues a share of the points.

Stuttgart ties Bremen under pressure

Stuttgart, and especially new coach Giovanni Trapattoni, were under pressure to post their first win after earning just one point in two games and the fans beginning to circle like sharks around the embattled coach and the draw away in Bremen didn't help the one-time Italy trainer, who is still waiting for his first Bundesliga win.

Danish international forward Jon-Dahl Tomasson scored his first goal since his eight million euro ($9.8 million) move from AC Milan, slotting home in the 50th minute to cancel out Ivan Klasnic's 40th minute opener.

"The first half was even but in the second Werder were far better," Trapattoni admitted. "But we had Timo Hildebrand in goal."

Bremen were left ruing the dropped points as they fell two points behind Bayern in the table, although they retain second spot.

"We have to be happy with the point," said Bremen manager Thomas Schaaf. "We were good going forward but at the back we had a few nervy moments."

Hamburg couldn't pull out a win but turned around a home losing streak against Hanover with a 1-1 draw. Hanover started scoring in the 18th minute on a goal from Jiri Stajner. Three minutes later Hamburg's Mehdi Mahadivikia ended the celebrations and closed out scoring for both sides, giving Hanover their third tie in as many games.

Cologne falls in extra time

Kaiserlautern's Halil Altintop, who is tied with Munich's Roy Makaay at the top of the scorer table, put an end to Cologne's victory march with a pair of goals.

After trailing by two going into the locker room, Cologne's Matthias Scherz and Lukas Podolski tied the game with goals in the 81st and 90th minute, only to see Ervin Skela cancel their work by converting a penalty in injury time and taking all three points back to Kaiserslautern.

Eintracht Frankfurt, who joined Cologne in being promoted to the German top flight this season, celebrated their first win, beating Nuremberg 1-0 at home on a shot from captain Jermaine Jones in the 68th minute. Without a win -- or even a goal -- in three weeks, Nuremberg seem to be making a comfortable spot for themselves in the Bundesliga basement.

VfL Wolfsburg got their first win and handed Bayer Leverkusen their second loss of the season in a slow moving 2-1 game.

Demitar Berbatov gave Leverkusen the lead in the 22nd minute, but Andres D'Alessandro and Pablo Thiam put in a header each to turn the score line around. The game's last minutes saw only nine Leverkusen players leave the field as the referee sent off Roque Junior and Marco Babic with a justified red card each.

On Sunday Arminia Bielefeld meet Mainz and MSV Duisburg play Borussia Dortmund in the Bundesliga's final games of the week.