体坛英语新闻：Bayern humiliate Bremen 6-0, Leverkusen held by Stuttgart to a 3-3 draw in German Bundesliga

BERLIN, Oct. 18 (Xinhua) -- Front-runners Bayern showed no mercy with Bremen whereas Leverkusen squandered a 3-0 lead to share the spoils with struggling Stuttgart at the eighth round of Bundesliga on Saturday.

Relentless Bavarians crushed bottom side Bremen 6-0 thanks to the braces by Philipp Lahm and Mario Goetze. Xabi Alonso and Thomas Mueller got their names also on the scoreboards against hapless visitors from the north.

Bayern dominated the encounter from the kick off against harmless visitors who posed absolutely no threat. Thus, it was just a matter of time before the German record champions broke the deadlock. Philipp Lahm overcame Bremen goalkeeper Raphael Wolf when he utilized an assist by Thomas Mueller from 14 meters at the 20th minute.

The front-runners doubled the lead only seven minutes later through Xabi Alonso, whose low free kick caught Bremen's wall flatfooted from 18 meters. Things changed from bad to worse as Bremen suffered two quick goals before the break. Thomas Mueller converted a foul play penalty before Mario Goetze curled the 4-0 lead into the far post corner.

Bremen failed to create any golden opportunities at the second half whereas the hosts were not done with the scoring. Philipp Lahm and Mario Goetze wrapped up their braces to complete the 6-0 goal-festival over Bremen.

It is the sixth victory for the unbeaten German giants, who lead the Bundesliga standings with a four-point advantage while Bremen struggle on last position.

Leverkusen wasted the chance to jump into the top three as they gave away three first-half goals against struggling but courageous Stuttgart.

The "Werkself" caught a bright start on the road as Heung Min Son completed a combination to open the scoring from twelve meters with a well-placed shot into the far post corner in the 5th minute.

Stuttgart wobbled and Leverkusen exploited their momentum as Son made use of a misplaced pass by goalkeeper Thorsten Kirschbaum to hammer home the 2-0 lead from 25 meters.

The hosts lacked in penetration and showed a poor defensive performance. As a consequence, Karim Bellarabi danced through Stuttgart's defence to finish his solo run with a goal with four minutes before the break.

However, things changed at the second half as Stuttgart turned up to start a comeback. Timo Werner initiated the comeback with his goal at the 57th minute before Florian Klein reduced the arrears to 3-2 ten minutes later.

Leverkusen failed to secure three points as Stuttgart's Martin Harnik's header cancelled out Leverkusen's three-goal lead in the 76th minute. Harnik had another two chances to score the winner but Leverkusen goalkeeper Bernd Leno was on guard to secure his side at least one point.

With the draw Leverkusen slip on sixth place meanwhile Stuttgart climb on 15th place.

Newly promoted Cologne upset Dortmund 2-1, inflicting Juergen Klopp's men the fifth loss at the eighth game of the season.

Dortmund controlled the proceedings on the pitch but failed to overcome Cologne's defence. Nevertheless, it were the hosts who opened the scoring, against the run of the game, through Kevin Vogt, who beat Dortmund goalkeeper Roman Weidenfeller into the bottom right with five minutes remaining in the first half.

Dortmund recovered after the break as new arrival Ciro Immobile restored parity with three minutes into the second half. However, Cologne's Simon Zoller flabbergasted the visitors when he capitalized on a moment of madness by goalkeeper Weidenfeller and defender Lukasz Piszczek, who underestimated a cross by Yuya Osako, allowing Zoller to poke home into the open goal at the 74th minute.

With the win Cologne climb on 11th place whilst Dortmund slump onto the 14th place.

Elsewhere, Monchengladbach cruised to a 3-0 victory over Hannover to remain in the hunt of front-runners Bayern Munich. The "Foals" occupy second place, with a four-point gap to the Bavarians, as they benefited on the brace by Max Kruse and a goal by Granit Xhaka.

Schalke down Berlin 2-0, thanks to the goals by Klaas Jan Huntelaar and Julian Draxler, at the debut of new coach Robert Di Matteo.

Two goals by Daniel Caligiuri were enough to help Wolfsburg beating Freiburg 2-1. Sebastian Kerk reduced the arrears to 2-1 for Freiburg in the dying minutes of the game.

The following fixtures are scheduled for Sunday: Hamburg encounter Hoffenheim whereas newly promoted Paderborn host Frankfurt.