Bayern maintains clean slate in Bundesliga

Goals in the final nine minutes from Luis Gustavo and Mario Mandzukic gave Bayern Munich a sixth league win out of six for the new season as the Bavarians cantered to a 2-0 win at Werder Bremen yesterday. The win took Bayern, seeking to end two years of Borussia Dortmund dominance in the league, five points clear of second-placed Eintracht Frankfurt, who host Freiburg on Sunday. Bayern’s mean machine once again kept a clean sheet — they have conceded just two goals to date — and Gustavo’s 20-meter drive into the top left-hand corner finally broke the deadlock when it looked as if Werder might pinch a point. Gustavo had come on for Peruvian veteran Claudio Pizarro on the hour and coach Jupp Heynckes pulled off another tactical coup in sending on Swiss Xherdan Shaquiri, who combined with Franck Ribery in orchestrating a move which saw Mandzukic finish from close range for his third goal in two games. Bayern, who Tuesday face BATE Borisov in the Champions League, will expect to keep their run of form going next weekend when they take on mid table Hoffenheim. In third place — seven points off the pace — are Schalke, following a 2-2 draw on Friday at Fortuna Dusseldorf. Elsewhere Saturday, Hanover lost the chance to go joint second after a 1-0 loss in Hamburg, now moving up the table after a poor start. Latvian striker Artjoms Rudnevs scored the only goal for the northerners in the 20th minute as the 1983 European champions exited the drop zone. Bayer Leverkusen thanked two quick fire second-half goals from Sidney Sam, their German-born Nigerian, to see off promoted Furth 2-0. The win took Leverkusen joint fourth in the table. Bosnian striker Vedad Ibisevic, meanwhile, scored the fastest goal of the Bundesliga season to date as he netted after just 24 seconds for Stuttgart at Nuremberg, nipping onto an under hit back pass from Brazilian defender Marcos Antonio to fire past keeper Raphael Schaefer. A 75th-minute goal from Martin Harnik clinched the points as Stuttgart won their first match of the campaign. Hoffenheim and Augsburg parted scoreless to leave the latter rooted to the foot of the table with just two points while Dortmund were later hosting Borussia Moenchengladbach. The match at Hoffenheim went ahead against a difficult backdrop for the home side with their 22-year-old teammate Boris Vukcevic still in a coma and in critical condition following a car crash on Friday afternoon. Hoffenheim said in an earlier statement his situation had not changed sufficiently to give a prognosis on his chances of pulling through and manager Andreas Mueller said “the team were shocked” by the news of his accident. Mueller revealed the team had at first thought of asking for the match to be called off but decided they should go ahead. “Boris is a fighter — and we will fight for him,” he said ahead of the encounter. Bild daily quoted Vukcevic’s parents as urging the team to “play for our Boris.”