Bayern march on - Hannover earn win in Stuttgart

Record champions FC Bayern München extended their lead over their nearest rivals Borussia Dortmund to eleven points at the top of the table on matchday 23 with a 2-0 win at VfL Wolfsburg. Bayern’s victory at last season’s runners-up and DFB Cup winners came courtesy of strikes by Kingsley Coman and Robert Lewandowski. Dortmund still have the chance to reply when they host TSG 1899 Hoffenheim on Sunday (kick-off: 17:30 CET).

Bottom-side Hannover 96 earned their first points under coach Thomas Schaaf with a 2-1 victory at VfB Stuttgart. Hamburger SV missed out on an important win in their 1-1 draw against FC Ingolstadt, while SV Werder Bremen and SV Darmstadt 98 also shared the points following a 2-2 draw.

Coman and Lewandowski break the deadlock for dominant FCB

A win on the club’s 116th anniversary saw the record champions move onto 62 points in the table – exactly twice as many as last season’s runners-up Wolfsburg.

FC Bayern enjoyed a bright start to the game in Wolfsburg, just as they did during the week in the Champions League match against Juventus, and create d early chances but failed to take advantage. The hosts struggled in the early stages, but eventually began to launch attacks of their own with Max Kruse and Marcel Schäfer missing the most promising chances in the first half.

Wolfsburg continued to fight back in the second half, but Bayern’s dominance paid off after 67 minutes when Kingsley Coman slotted home from inside the area, before Robert Lewandowski sealed victory with a smart volley.

Brace for Schulz in Hannover win – Bremen draw against Darmstadt

Stuttgart got off the better start and took the lead from Timo Werner after 18 minutes. However, Christian Schulz guided Hannover 96 to their first win in 2016 by scoring a goal in each half for a 2-1 victory, ending an eight-game losing streak. Hannover remain in last place despite this win, and this does not alleviate the pressure with two derbies against Wolfsburg and Werder on the horizon.

Following their 2-2 draw with Darmstadt, Bremen are still waiting for their first home-triumph since last August. Anthony Ujah fired the hosts into the lead from close range just after the half-hour mark but former Bremen striker Sandro Wanger levelled from the spot shortly before half-time. Darmstadt skipper Aytac Sulu gave the visitors the lead with less than ten minutes left to play, but Claudio Pizarro struck late to salvage a point for SVW.

Drmic scores – HSV unbeaten in four

Hamburger SV took control of the game against Ingolstadt early on and managed the perfect start, when a well-executed attack from Nicolai Müller and Aaron Hunt was completed by Josip Drmic after just five minutes to give the hosts the lead. It was Drmic’s first goal for HSV since joining them in the winter.

Unfortunately for the hosts, they weren’t able to keep up their dominance as Ingolstadt created decent chances prior to the break, before scoring a deserved equaliser in the second half through Lukas Hinterseer following a corner.