BERLIN: Bayern Munich’s Mario Gomez hit a hat-trick as the defending champions went third in the Bundesliga with a 5-1 win over Kaiserslautern yesterday as leaders Borussia Dortmund drew 1-1 with Stuttgart.
Despite being held, the leaders remain 13 points clear at the top with Bayern 14 points behind after Gomez netted three second-half goals to bring his tally to 15 in 17 league matches this season.
Bayern went ahead when Dutchman Arjen Robben latched onto a long pass from Germany star Thomas Mueller, held off a defender and beat Stuttgart goalkeeper Sven Ulreich with almost the last kick of the first-half.
Munich went 2-0 up straight after the break when Robben beat two defenders down the left wing, squared the ball to Bastian Schweinsteiger who offered his Germany team-mate Gomez the chance to tap into an empty net.
Kaiserslautern pulled a goal back when Bayern defender Anatoliy Tymoshchuk made a hash of dealing with a cross and the loose ball fell into the path of Czech midfielder Jan Moravek in the 62nd minute who fired home. But Gomez showed his class with two late goals before Mueller added the fifth in added time to complete the rout.
Dortmund had to share the points after Stuttgart’s Russia striker Pavel Pogrebnyak equalised in the 84th minute to stun the leaders at home.
Borussia had opened the scoring just before the half-time break when midfielder Kevin Grosskreuz slid a pass through the Stuttgart defence for teenager Mario Goetze to beat the goalkeeper on 43 minutes.
Stuttgart fought back for a point but are still 16th in the league, three from bottom, despite the draw.
Hanover are second in the table despite losing 1-0 at home to Schalke. Schalke, who face Valencia in the last 16 of the Champions League next month, sealed the win when Spanish striker Raul hit his 10th league goal of the season when he netted in the 33rd minute. The win lifts Schalke up to 10th place.
Ex-England coach Steve McClaren picked up his first win in 10 matches when his Wolfsburg side earned a 1-0 win at Mainz, who drop to fourth.
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