Story highlights
Bayern Munich stay top of Bundesliga with 3-2 win over Hertha Berlin
Borussia Dortmund maintain pressure on leaders with 3-1 win at local rivals Schalke
Inter Milan move up to fourth after a 4-2 win against Hellas Verona in Serie A
Bayern Munich maintained their unbeaten record in the Bundesliga with a hard-fought 3-2 win over Hertha Berlin at the Allianz Arena on Saturday.
Pep Guardiola’s side endured a desperate start to the match, going behind to a goal from Adrian Ramos in the fourth minute before seeing both Tim Kroos and Arjen Robben go off injured with only a quarter of the match played.
The two Mario’s – Mandzukic and Gotze – came on in their place and immediately set about changing the course of the match.
Croatian striker Mandzukic equalized in the 29th minute heading home a Franck RIbery’s free-kick before adding a second headed goal six minutes into the second half.
Gotze’s first Bundesliga goal for Bayern doubled their lead in the 54th minute only for Anis Ben-Hatira to pull one back for Hertha four minutes later thus ensuring a tense final quarter of the match.
Bayern held on and maintain a one-point advantage at the top of the table over Borussia Dortmund who recorded a 3-1 win away to Ruhr valley rivals Schalke.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang put the visitors ahead in the 14th minute with Nuri Sahin doubling the lead six minutes into the second half.
Max Meyer halved Schalke’s deficit in the 63rd minute before Jakub Blaszczykowski sealed three points for Jurgen Klopp’s side with a 74th minute strike.
“We got off to a dream start in this really intense match,” Klopp said.
“A brilliant second goal and wonderful counter-attack for the third adds up to us deserving this victory.”
Third-place Bayer Leverkusen kept pace with Dortmund after beating Augsburg 2-1 while Wolfsburg moved up to fifth and level on 15 points with Hertha following a 3-0 win against Werder Bremen.
After a shocking run of one point from six games, Mainz finally scored a win, beating bottom side Braunschweig 2-0 to move up to 11th in the table.
Hoffenheim recorded a thumping 4-1 win at Hannover to move up to 9th.
Meanwhile in Serie A, Inter Milan move up to fourth after a 4-2 win against Hellas Verona at the San Siro while Sampdoria recorded their second win on the bounce beating seventh-place Atalanta 1-0.
Roma will look to continue their 100% start to the season when they travel to Udinese on Sunday. Second-place Napoli entertain mid-table Torino, Juventus host Genoa, sixth-place Fiorentina are away to second-from-bottom ChievoVerona and AC Milan travel to Parma.
