Bayern win on day of upsets

Bayern Munich's lead at the top of the Bundesliga will stand at seven points until tomorrow, at least.

Eintracht Frankfurt coach Thomas Schaaf ordered his charges to press the German champions high up the pitch from the first whistle. That strategy worked - for 20 minutes. At that juncture, the hosts had fired off two shots on goal to none from the visiting Bavarians.

Then, in the 13th minute, Bastian Oczipka failed to track Thomas Müller into the Frankfurt penalty area and Franck Ribery found the Bayern forward alone in front of goal and he bundled the ball home with his knee.

That goal was symbolic of Bayern's overall performance on the day: hardly elegant but more than effective enough against a plucky but overmatched opponent. Müller, in particular, was having a very good day at the office and he'd get more joy before the end.

He latched on the end of a long pass by Philipp Lahm in the 64th minute and fired it home to add to Frankfurt's misery, with a style now tagged as "Müllered" on social media.

And only three minutes later, he completed his hat-trick to secure a clear win for Pep Guardiola's men. It was Müller's second career hat-trick and the first in the Bundesliga this season.

Xherdan Shaqiri completed the 4-0 scoreline in stoppage time. The result gives Bayern a seven-point advantage over their nearest challengers in the table, Wolfsburg and Mönchengladbach, who both play on Sunday.

Freiburg turn over Schalke

Seeking to recover from a bad loss in the Champions League in mid-week, Schalke travelled to Freiburg and early on it looked like the Royal Blues would indeed get redemption, dominating possession and creating some promising chances.

They were caught completely unaware after 22 minutes, however, when defender Christian Günter dispossessed Sidney Sam in midfield. He then passed to Sebastian Freis who returned the favor, and Günter notched up his first-ever Bundesliga goal.

That strike seemed to unsettle Schalke completely. Suddenly the underdogs from Southern Germany were bossing their visitors and Jonathan Schmid doubled their advantage on 70 minutes. Schalke defender Dennis Aogo picked up an involuntary assist with a clumsy non-clearance.

The 2-0 victory is Freiburg's second win in a row and takes them out of the drop zone. Schalke have stagnated in eleventh.

Wild first half in Hoffenheim

Cologne visited Hoffenheim with one of the league's best defenses and worst attacks - but the football universe in Sinsheim was turned on its head.

After going down inside 120 seconds with an Adam Szalai goal, Cologne rattled off three of their own. Pawel Olkowski, Matthias Lehmann and Anthony Ujah were the scorers.

But before the break, the Billy Goats also managed to concede two more: Roberto Firmino chipping in a brace to level the playing field.

The second half was a more sedate affair. But just as it looked as though both teams would settle for a point, Olkowski thumped in a game-winner with seven minutes left. The 4-3 loss puts another dent in Hoffenheim's campaign to crack the top four.

In the battle of the league's overachievers, Augsburg emerged as clear winners over Paderborn. Tobias Werner scored a pair for the Southern Germans - becoming Augsburg's highest-scorer in the top-flight - and defender Jan-Ingwer Callsen-Bracker added a goal, as they won 3-0.

In Leverkusen, the hosts dominated possession and created opportunities, but to no avail. The match ended goalless.

In Saturday's late match, Werder Bremen lift themselves out of last place with a 2-0 win over Stuttgart. Sebastian Prödl and Fin Bartels scored for the men in green, who booked their second straight league win for new coach Viktor Skripnik.

On Friday Hannover beat Hertha 2-0 in the German capital. On Sunday, Wolfsburg face Hamburg and reeling Dortmund try to reverse their fortunes against Mönchengladbach.