Dortmund, Germany – Nuri Sahin scored twice and added an assist to see Borussia Dortmund overturn a one-goal deficit to smash Freiburg in a 5-1 win at Signal Iduna Park on Saturday.
Jonathan Schmid had given Freiburg the lead, but braces from Sahin and Robert Lewandowski helped Dortmund bounce back and claim all three points in convincing fashion.
Jurgen Klopp's side improves to 49 points on the season to retain second place for another week, responding favorably to a disappointing derby defeat to Schalke last time out.
Freiburg, winless in its last four, has lost two consecutive Bundesliga contests to remain stuck on 36 points.
Saturday's contest started brightly for Freiburg as Schmid got the visitors off the mark in the 28th minute.
But Dortmund effectively sealed the victory before the halftime interval, grabbing three goals in the final four minutes of the opening period.
Lewandowski equalized for Dortmund in the 41st minute before Sahin nabbed the go-ahead goal. The Borussians never looked back as Lewandowski completed his brace in first-half stoppage time.
Sahin made it four for the home side in the 72nd minute, six minutes before Leonardo Bittencourt added a fifth with his first Bundesliga goal in just his second appearance.
Bayern Munich 2, Bayer Leverkusen 1
Leverkusen, Germany - Bayern Munich's superb Bundesliga campaign continued on Saturday with a 2-1 defeat of Bayer Leverkusen at the BayArena.
Mario Gomez sent Bayern in front with the opening goal in the 37th minute. The visitors held the lead until the 75th minute when Simon Rolfes equalized for Leverkusen, but the home side ultimately gifted the win to Bayern through Philipp Wollscheid's own goal three minutes from time.
Bayern's 20-point lead atop the top the table remains in tact as the club improves to 69 points through 26 matches. Leverkusen, on 45 points, falls four points behind second-place Dortmund.
Augsburg 1, Hamburg 0
Hamburg, Germany - Augsburg claimed its third Bundesliga win in its last four outings, riding Jan-Ingwer Callsen-Bracker's eighth minute strike to a 1-0 victory over 10-man Hamburg at Imtech Arena on Saturday.
The visitors held on to Callsen-Bracker's early goal, and the victory was effectively secured 10 minutes from time when Hamburg's Maximilian Beister was sent off.
The win sees Augsburg climb to 24 points on the season to bring the club closer to safety. Hamburg stays stuck on 38 points.
Nurnberg 3, Schalke 0
Nurnberg, Germany - Schalke saw its three-game winning run in Bundesliga play come to an end in disappointing fashion on Saturday, falling to Nurnberg 3-0 at the Frankenstadion.
Nurnberg piled more misery on Schalke following its debilitating exit from the Champions League on Wednesday as Markus Feulner opened the scoring in the 31st minute. Alexander Esswein and Mike Frantz completed the emphatic scoreline by grabbing goals in the 69th and 87th minutes, respectively.
Schalke remains in fifth place on 39 points, five points clear of Nurnberg.
Werder Bremen 2, Greuther Furth 2
Bremen, Germany - Aaron Hunt converted two penalties at the Weserstadion on Saturday to help Werder Bremen salvage a point in a 2-2 draw with lowly Greuther Furth.
Hunt's opener came in the 47th minute, but it was overturned by Greuther Furth thanks to goals from Stephan Furstner and Thanos Petsos. But the home side managed to recover and take a point when Hunt fired home another spot-kick in the 70th minute.
Greuther Furth remains rooted to the foot of the table with just 15 points, half as much as Bremen.
Hoffenheim 0, Mainz 0
Sinsheim, Germany - Hoffenheim and Mainz played to a 0-0 draw at Rhein-Neckar Arena on Saturday, a result that does not do either side much in the way of favors.
The draw sees Mainz remain on 38 points as the club fails to take advantage of losses from Schalke and Hamburg.
Hoffenheim stays second from bottom in Germany's top flight with 20 points.
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