Schalke go third, Hamburg go top

Schalke 04 are up to third in the Bundesliga after Peru’s Jefferson Farfan and Georgia’s Levan Kobiashvili scored in the 2-1 win over Cologne on Sunday, while Hamburg stay top of the league.

Farfan headed Schalke into the lead after just two minutes, but Cologne, who are still chasing their first win of the season since promotion, equalised when Lukas Podolski scored his first league goal since returning from Bayern Munich.

But Schalke took the three points when Kobiashvili scored for the Royal Blues immediately after the break to pick up their fifth win in seven games, while Cologne are bottom with just a point.

Werder Bremen were held to a 0-0 draw at home to midtable Hanover to leave them sixth.

Both striker Claudio Pizarro and midfielder Mesut Oezil had their chances to score for Bremen, but Hanover’s defence held firm to share the points.

On Saturday, Hamburg striker Mladen Petric hit a wonder goal to fire his side back to the top as Stuttgart were beaten 3-1.

The Croatian star took a neat return pass from Dutch midfielder Eljero Elia and drilled his shot past Stuttgart goalkeeper Jens Lehmann from outside the penalty area on 30 minutes as Hamburg dominated the match.

Elia – whose goal eliminated Scotland from making the runners-up spot in their World Cup qualifying group earlier this week – then netted a goal of his own on 58 minutes.

But Stuttgart threatened to force their way back into the game when Russia striker Pavel Pogrebnyak one back on 62 minutes.

Hamburg’s former Bayern Munich midfielder Ze Roberto put the matter beyond doubt in injury time when he fired home to give his side their fourth straight league win.

Germany team-mates Bastian Schweinsteiger and Mario Gomez both scored as Bayern Munich moved up to fifth in the Bundesliga after a 5-1 win at Borussia Dortmond.

Having defeated Wolfsburg 3-0 in their previous outing, Bayern hit back from conceding an early goal as Gomez bagged a first-half equaliser before Schweinsteiger put his side ahead with a well-taken solo effort.

French midfielder Franck Ribery then slotted home a free-kick before teenager Thomas Mueller, who celebrated his 20th birthday on Sunday, netted twice in the final 20 minutes to fire Bayern up the table.

The victory gives Dutch coach Louis van Gaal his second league win having taken over in July and makes up for Bayern’s disastrous start to the season when they dropped down to 16th.

Defending champions Wolfsburg are facing something of a crisis after they were beaten 3-2 by Bayer Leverkusen having had goalkeeper Diego Benaglio sent-off.

This was Wolfsburg’s third consecutive defeat after falling to Hamburg and Bayern in the last two rounds and drops them down to tenth.

Benaglio was shown a straight red for fouling Leverkusen’s Eren Derdiyok just outside of the area on 32 minutes, but the Swiss striker was later shown a second yellow to earn himself a red card on 53 minutes.

Benaglio’s dismissal led to Germany midfielder Simon Rolfes hitting Leverkusen’s first goal on 38 minutes before converting a 52nd minute penalty.

His national team-mate Stefan Kiessling hit the third, before Wolfsburg fought back with play-maker Zvjezdan Misimovic scoring with a direct free-kick on 76 minutes before Grafite slotted a late penalty but it was too little, too late.

Eintracht Frankfurt are up to fourth thanks to their 2-0 win over Freiburg.

Hoffenheim, the surprise package of last season, enjoyed a 3-0 win at home to Bochum, while Mainz picked up another win after shocking Hertha Berlin 2-1 at home.

Mainz shocked Bayern ealier in the season and their Burkino Faso striker Aristide Bance, who scored in the 2-1 win over Munich, hit the winner in the 85th minute.