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Triple goalscorer Robert Lewandowski
Photo: Matthias Schrader / dpa
In the Bundesliga, FC Bayern Munich managed no less than a show of power with a 4-0 (4-0) win against VfB Stuttgart.
The Munich performance impressed not only the result and style of play, but also the fact that the record champions had to play undernumbered for almost 80 minutes: Alphonso Davies had ruthlessly stepped on Stuttgart's Wataru Endo (12th minute), referee Daniel Schlager provided the Canadian smooth red from the square.
Then the Munich played in a frenzy: A sharp cross from Serge Gnabry pushed Robert Lewandowski from five meters over the goal line (17th).
Five minutes later Gnabry was there to recycle after Thomas Müller and Leroy Sané had combined with a double one-two through the Stuttgart defense (22nd minute).
Lewandowski headed a Müller cross into the goal shortly afterwards (23rd) and let his third goal follow before the break (39th).
With the runaway victory, Bayern keep their closest rival RB Leipzig at a distance, who won 1-0 at Arminia Bielefeld the day before.
Lewandowski, who now has 35 goals this season, is approaching Gerd Müller's record: With 40 goals in the 1971/72 season, Müller holds the Bundesliga goal record.
Lewandowski still have eight game days to set or exceed this value.
Borussia Dortmund has lost ground in the race for the Champions League.
With the 2: 2 (1: 1) in Cologne, BVB is now four points behind Frankfurt in fourth place.
For Cologne, however, it was an unexpected point gain in the relegation battle.
FC are currently two points ahead of Hertha and Mainz in 16th and 17th place, but both teams are still playing on Sunday.
After just 30 seconds, everything was out of calm in the Cologne defense, but with combined forces the ball was then brought out of the danger zone.
Two minutes later, however, the time had come: Erling Haaland, who was not under pressure from opponent Jorge Meré, took the lead from a tight angle (3rd).
It took Cologne about a quarter of an hour to arrive in the game.
After a little more than half an hour, the Dortmund team took revenge for not being able to take advantage of the existing chances for a second goal.
Jude Bellingham had blocked a shot in his own penalty area with his upper arm, Ondrej Duda equalized with a penalty (35th).
The second half was similar to the first.
The first few minutes belonged to the guests, but then Cologne got stronger.
Ismail Jakobs then achieved the well-deserved leadership.
At first, the flank player was faster than Thomas Meunier, then he hit the ball perfectly in the penalty area, so that it hit the crossbar (65th).
As a result, BVB became more offensive - and with Haaland they had three more opportunities to equalize.
First his header landed from a difficult position on the post (80th), four minutes later his shot from the back area just missed the post.
The third opportunity landed in goal, in the final minute Haaland secured at least one point for BVB (90th).
VfL Wolfsburg remains on course for the Champions League.
At Werder Bremen, Lower Saxony celebrated a 2-1 (2-1) away win and once again underlined their consistency without shining.
The Wolves took the lead after a mishap from Werder attacker Joshua Sargent, who hit his own goal in a high arc with his head (8th) Wolfsburg's top striker Wout Weghorst extended the lead after Kevin Möhwald lost the ball (42nd).
On the other side Möhwald made up for his mistake, still in the first half after a free kick with a volley to connect (45th).
The game remained open for a long time, but Wolfsburg did not allow any greater chances against hard-working but largely uninspired Bremer.
Weghorst and Kevin Mbabu with a double chance (62nd) missed opportunities for their part to make the result clearer.
In the table, the Wolfsburg are still third, on the fifth-placed Dortmund, the lead is already eight points.
Eight game days before the season, coach Oliver Glasner's team has the best chance of taking part in the Champions League in the coming season.
Werder remains in twelfth place in the midfield of the league.
In the first leg in Berlin two goals had already been scored after six minutes, in Frankfurt the teams needed a minute longer.
But as many goals had been scored at halftime as in the 3: 3 (2: 2) first leg.
After three games without a win, Eintracht Frankfurt wins 5-2 (4-2) against Union Berlin and remains in fourth place, which entitles them to participate in the Champions League.
André Silva had put Frankfurt in the lead after good preparatory work by Filip Kostić (2nd), Max Kruse quickly equalized (7th).
As a result, Union had more and better opportunities to lead in a promising game, but fell behind again in a curious way.
Midfielder Robert Andrich wanted to play the ball back to goalkeeper Andreas Luthe from almost 22 meters - but the pass got too sharp and Luthe slipped (35th).
With two quick goals from Kostić (39th) and again Silva (41st), Frankfurt turned a draw into a three-goal lead in six minutes.
The guests, who were at least equal, were allowed to go into the break with the hope of a turnaround thanks to Kruse's second goal (45th + 3rd).
In the second half, Frankfurt mostly left the ball to the guests and waited for counter-opportunities.
Union also created some chances, Kruse (60th) and Keita Endo (69th) gave the best opportunities to catch up.
In the second minute of stoppage time, Timothy Chandler scored the final score for Frankfurt.
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