Robert Lewandowski scored twice to help Bundesliga leaders Bayern Munich win 3-1 at Augsburg on Saturday, three days after beating the same opponents by the same score in the German Cup.
RB Leipzig, in their first season in the top flight and only founded seven years ago, won 2-0 at Darmstadt with two goals from substitute Marcel Sabitzer, to stay second.
Borussia Dortmund, last season’s runners-up, lost ground on the leading pair when they were held 0-0 by Schalke 04 in a rough Ruhr derby which produced 35 fouls and eight yellow cards, and was littered with crunching tackles.
A brilliant solo goal by Max Philipp set Freiburg, another promoted side, on the way to a 3-1 win at lowly Werder Bremen.
Bayern, who have 23 points, and Leipzig, who are two points behind, remained unbeaten after the first nine games of the season. Dortmund, last season’s runners-up, are fifth, eight points behind Bayern.
Lewandowski had not scored in his previous five league games but ended his mini-drought after 19 minutes when he finished off a counter-attack set up by Arjen Robben, who himself added the second two minutes later.
Lewandowski struck again three minutes after halftime and Koo Ja-cheol pulled one back after a Bayern defensive lapse.
“I’m happy to have scored again. After the Euros and last season, there were obviously going to be a few critics if I went a few games without a goal,” said the Poland forward.
Leipzig dominated possession in characteristic style at Darmstadt although they needed nearly an hour to break the deadlock when substitute Sabitzer turned in Timo Werner’s cross.
Sabitzer’s second came from an almost identical finish but the hard work was done by Oliver Burke who drew two defenders before putting in a low cross.
In the Ruhr derby, Dortmund came closest to winning it when Ousmane Dembele hit the post from Christian Pulisic’s cross early in the second half.
Mario Goetze nearly managed to prise open the Schalke defence after a one-two with Dembele but was blocked by Ralf Faehrmann just after the hour.
A minute later, Sead Kolasinic did superbly to block Pulisic after Pierre-Emerick Aubemeyang cut the ball back and left Faehrmann stranded.
Freiburg fullback Philipp scored arguably the best goal of the afternoon when he weaved his way through the Bremen defence before carefully placing the ball into the net.
Vincenzo Grifo, from a penalty, and Amir Abrashi were also on target for Freiburg and Santiago Garcia replied for Bremen.
Wolfsburg remained in the relegation playoff place after they lost 2-1 at home to Bayer Leverkusen, who themselves had been struggling for form.
Maximilian Arnold gave Wolfsburg a first-half lead but they inexplicably sat back after the break and paid heavily when Admir Mehmedi levelled in the 79th minute and Tin Jedvaj struck five minutes later.
Mainz 05 beat Ingolstadt 2-0 in the day’s other game, leaving their opponents with two points and one place off the bottom.
