Bayern cruise on as Frankfurt held

Dortmund’s striker Marco Reus (R) and Frankfurt’s Swiss midfielder Pirmin Schwegler fight for the ball

Mario Mandzukic scored twice against his former club VfL Wolfsburg as Bayern Munich eased to a 3-0 win on Tuesday to maintain their perfect start to the Bundesliga campaign.

Mandzukic’s goals plus one from Bastian Schweinsteiger saw them to their fifth successive win in the league as they bid to reclaim it after missing out in the past two seasons to Borussia Dortmund.

Eintracht Frankfurt were unable to keep pace with them as they dropped their first points of the season – drawing 3-3 against Dortmund.

Schweinsteiger hit the post twice before giving Bayern the lead in the 24th minute. With Wolfsburg rarely venturing forward, Mandzukic doubled the advantage with a header in the 57th minute.

The Croatian international finished off Wolfsburg for good with his fifth Bundesliga goal of the season in the 65th minute.

“We know ourselves that the season is still young and that we have to keep going and keep our feet on the ground. But we want more,” said Mandzukic, who earned his move on the back of impressive performances at Euro 2012.

“It’s really fun to play here. I am enjoying every moment with the team. It doesn’t matter how many goals I score. The main thing is that we win titles.”

Bayern’s Peruvian veteran striker Claudio Pizarro meanwhile came on as a substitute late on to make a 337th appearance in the German league – a joint record for a foreign player which he now shares with Brazil’s former Bayern star Ze Roberto.

Bayern have a perfect 15 points from five matches and are two points ahead of Frankfurt and seven on Dortmund.

Dortmund went 2-0 up with goals by Lukasz Piszczek in the 25th minute and Marco Reus in the 28th.

Both goals came via the right flank through Piszczek, who turned inside and had his shot go in off both Bastian Oczipka and Anderson and past Frankfurt keeper Kevin Trapp for the first.

Piszczek’s cross from the right three minutes later found Reus, who ran onto the ball and hammered it home from long distance.

Frankfurt pulled things back with two quickfire goals within 97 seconds on two counter attacks.

Stefan Aigner pulled one back in the 49th minute and Takashi Inui equalised with a header in the 51st off a pass from Aigner.

Dortmund substitute Mario Goetze then snatched the ball from Anderson and then poked his shot past Trapp to make it 3-2 for the titleholders on 54 minutes.

But Anderson made up for his mistake in the 73rd minute with a header to make it 3-3.

“We have had a number of different phases during my time in Dortmund,” said Dortmund coach Jurgen Klopp.

“But one we haven’t had is when we give up a lot of goals. We are doing that now but hopefully we can get back to not giving up many goals – or any goals at all.”

Schalke were hardly convincing but grabbed their third victory for 10 points and third place with a 3-0 win at home over Mainz.

Jefferson Farfan converted a penalty in the 21st minute after Junior Diaz took down Benedikt Hoewedes.

Lewis Holtby decided the game for good with his header in the 81st minute, and Teemu Pukki added a third goal in the 90th minute.

Promoted side Fortuna Dusseldorf continued their strong, unbeaten, showing with a 2-0 win at Greuther Fuerth to move to nine points.

Dusseldorf, who got goals from Oliver Fink in the 26th and Ken Ilsoe in the 33rd minute, remain the only team in the league not to have conceded a goal.

On Wednesday, Hanover take on Nuremberg while Freiburg welcome Werder Bremen; Borussia Monchengladbach host Hamburg; Bayer Leverkusen play at Augsburg; and Stuttgart play at home against Hoffenheim.

©2011 AFP