Bayern knock Dortmund off top with Darmstadt win

German Bundesliga

Berlin, Sep 20: Bayern Munich knocked Borussia Dortmund off top spot in the German league on Saturday with a 3-0 win at Darmstadt in the Bundesliga’s David verses Goliath clash.

With Dortmund hosting Bayer Leverkusen on Sunday, Pep Guardiola’s Bayern took their chance to go top with their fifth win from five games and leave Darmstadt hunting a first win over the Bavarian giants after seven attempts.

This was their first league meeting since 1982 after Darmstadt’s promotion last season.

The Munich squad has a market value of 559 million euros ($632m), compared to Darmstadt’s 19 million, and their tally of 40 fan clubs is dwarfed by the 4,000 Bayern can boast.

All three scorers — new signings Arturo Vidal, Kingsley Coman and Sebastian Rode — claimed their first goals of the season with Munich’s star forward Robert Lewandowski injured and Thomas Mueller on the bench.

Vidal opened his Bayern account by turning his defender just outside the box and curling a shot in off the post on 20 minutes. Rode then punished his former club by dribbling to the box and his cross was buried by France Under-21 intertiol Coman on 62 minutes. Rode then claimed his own when his shot hit the post and he slotted home the rebound to claim Bayern‘s third on 63 minutes.

The result left Darmstadt in 12th place. Bottom side Borussia Moenchengladbach’s disastrous start to the season continued as they suffered their fifth straight defeat in losing 1-0 at neighbours Cologne in the Rhineland derby. IANS