Leaders Bayern rout Bremen in Roma warm-up

Leaders Bayern rout Bremen in Roma warm-up

Bundesliga leaders Bayern Munich earned their fifth straight victory on Saturday as Spainiard Xabi Alonso netted his first Bundesliga goal in their 6-0 rout of Werder Bremen.

Bayern Munich's Brazil defender Rafinha (left) and Bremen's midfielder Fin Bartels vie for the ball during their German First division Bundesliga match in Munich on October 18, 2014

Bayern warmed up for Tuesday's Champions League clash at Roma by maintaining their four-point lead at the top of the table, boosting their goal difference to plus 19, as former Germany captain Philipp Lahm and Mario Geotze both scored twice.

"People say it's hard to get back into it after the international break, but we played well, had good positioning and good build-up," said Bayern coach Pep Guardiola.

"It was a bit easier for us after Philipp scored the first goal.

"Ok, we have three points more, but our focus is now on the Champions League."

Lahm started the rout when he crashed his shot home from 14 metres out with 20 minutes gone at Munich's Allianz Arena.

Alonso, who joined Bayern from Real Madrid in August, netted his first goal for the club when he drove a free-kick under the Bremen wall on 27 minutes.

Thomas Mueller put the hosts 3-0 up when he converted a penalty after being dragged down in the area by Bremen's Sebastian Proedl on two minutes before half-time.

And Goetze made it 4-0 at the break when he held off Congo defender Assani Lukimya to bury his shot in the far corner.

Lahm and Goetze both added their second goals as the hosts profited from a tiring defence in the final 20 minutes and the result left Bremen languishing bottom of the table.

With Hoffenheim at Hamburg on Sunday, Borussia Moenchengladbach went second in the table with a 3-0 win at Hanover 96 as Germany squad member Max Kruse scored twice and Swiss midfielder Granit Xhaka netted a free-kick.

- Di Matteo's winning start -

Roberto di Matteo got off to a winning start as Schalke 04 coach when the Royal Blues picked up only their third win of the season with a 2-0 victory at home to Hertha Berlin.

Netherlands striker Klaas-Jan Huntelaar put Schalke ahead with a long-range header on 19 minutes before Germany midfielder Julian Draxler made it 2-0 with a well-taken goal on 65 minutes.

The result lifts Schalke to eighth as di Matteo, who won the 2012 Champions League title with Chelsea, replaced sacked predecessor Jens Keller a fortnight ago.

The Royal Blues, second in Group G behind Chelsea, host Sporting Lisbon in the Champions League on Tuesday.

Elsewhere, Borussia Dortmund's horror league run continued as they lost 2-1 at Cologne to go five Bundesliga games without a win and suffer three defeats in a row, ahead of Wednesday's Champions League clash at Galatasaray.

"We played a type of football which makes absolutely no sense," fumed Dortmund coach Jurgen Klopp.

Cologne took a 1-0 lead as midfielder Kevin Vogt fired home on 40 minutes.

Although Dortmund striker Ciro Immobile equalised, Simon Zoller netted Cologne's winner on 74 minutes to seal their first home victory against Borussia since 2003.

The result leaves Dortmund 14th -- just two points above the bottom three -- while Cologne are 11th.

Bayer Leverkusen, who host Zenit St Petersburg in the Champions League on Wednesday, threw away a three-goal lead in their 3-3 draw at plucky VfB Stuttgart.

A win would have seen Leverkusen go third, but the draw saw them drop to sixth in the table.

Leverkusen raced into a 2-0 lead after only nine minutes as South Korea's Son Heung-Min scored twice and could have had a hat-trick on 11 minutes when his lob hit the crossbar before Germany's Karim Bellarabi made it 3-0 at the break.

But Stuttgart battled back as midfielder Timo Werner and left-back Florian Klein scored second-half goals before Martin Harnik headed Stuttgart level on 76 minutes when he was left unmarked at the far post -- by Son.

VfL Wolfsburg went third with a 2-1 win at Freiburg as midfielder Daniel Caligiuri scored twice against his old club, while Mainz went fourth after their 2-1 win at home to Augsburg.

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