Stuttgart, Germany – Bayern Munich extended its cushion atop the Bundesliga to a comfortable 11 points on Sunday, posting a 2-0 win over Stuttgart at the Mercedes Benz Arena.
The hosts played well in the first half, holding the German giants scoreless through the opening 45 minutes, but the Champions League runners-up broke through in the 50th minute when Mario Mandzukic fired a right-footed strike into the bottom-right corner of the net.
The league leaders added to their advantage in the 72nd minute when Mandzukic served a cross into the box that fell to the feet of Thomas Muller, who tapped it home from close range.
A second yellow card to Martin Harnik 10 minutes from time saw Stuttgart reduced to 10 men, and Bayern saw out the final minutes of the match to claim all three points.
Stuttgart remains in 11th place on 25 points with the defeat.
Hamburg 3, Werder Bremen 2
Hamburg, Germany - Artjoms Rudnevs' tally seven minutes into the second half proved to be the difference as Hamburg claimed a 3-2 victory over nine-man Werder Bremen at Imtech Arena on Sunday.
Assani Lukimya-Mulongoti got the visitors off to a good start nine minutes into the match when he got his head on a corner kick from Aleksandar Ignjovski in the middle of the penalty area and powered it into the net for the 1-0 advantage.
Hamburg equalized in the 23rd minute through Heung-Min Son, who corralled a pass from Milan Badelj and ripped it into the top-right corner. It was 2-1 for the home side when Dennis Aogo tapped one home from close range in first-half injury time.
Rudnevs made it 3-1 in the 52nd minute when he fired a shot high into the top portion of the net, but just two minutes later, Sokratis Papastathopoulos pulled one back for Bremen.
Red cards to Clemens Fritz and Marko Arnautovic in the final 10 minutes saw Bremen reduced to nine men and Hamburg held on for the victory to move into ninth place on 28 points, while Bremen remains in 12th place with 22 points.
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