Dortmund and Schalke surge to summit

Borussia Dortmund and FC Schalke 04 moved level with FC Bayern München at the top of the Bundesliga table as both recorded comfortable wins on their return from the winter break.

Bayern's 3-1 loss at VfL Borussia Mönchengladbach on Friday offered their rivals the chance to ramp up the pressure and Schalke responded with a 3-1 defeat of VfB Stuttgart on Saturday, Joel Matip putting them ahead from close range after just three minutes. Kyriakos Papadopoulos headed in a second 12 minutes after the restart and Julian Draxler weighed in ten minutes from time, before Shinji Okazaki hit a late consolation for Stuttgart.

Champions Dortmund climbed to second on goal difference the following day when they triumphed 5-1 at Hamburger SV, Polish internationals Robert Lewandowski and Jakub Błaszczykowski firing two goals apiece after Kevin Grosskreutz's 16th-minute opener.

Fifth behind Mönchengladbach, meanwhile, SV Werder Bremen drew 0-0 at 1. FC Kaiserslautern, allowing Bayer 04 Leverkusen to close within a point by edging 1. FSV Mainz 05 3-2.

Elsewhere, Christian Streich enjoyed a winning start to his SC Freiburg reign as his side beat FC Augsburg 1-0 to climb off the bottom and leave their opponents there instead, while 1. FC Nürnberg defeated Hertha BSC Berlin 2-0 and VfL Wolfsburg beat 1. FC Köln 1-0.