Germany’s top club have been enjoying their traditional winter break over the festive period. But after almost a month without any action, the Bundesliga returned with a bang.
Erling Haaland wasted no time announcing himself on the scene with a 20-minute hat-trick, while Bayern and Leverkusen both scored four. There was an important win for Werder, while Koln picked up where they left off before the winter break.
Here are all the results.
Schalke 04 2-0 Borussia Monchengladbach
Augsburg 3-5 Borussia Dortmund
FC Koln 3-1 Wolfsburg
Hoffenheim 1-2 Eintracht Frankfurt
Mainz 1-2 SC Freiburg
Fortuna Dusseldorf 0-1 Werder Bremen
RB Leipzig 3-1 Union Berlin
Hertha Berlin 0-4 Bayern Munich
Paderborn 1-4 Bayer Leverkusen
Two goals in 10 second-half minutes from Suat Serdar and Michael Gregoritsh saw Schalke claim an impressive victory over Monchengladbach on Friday night. Fifth-place Schalke moved to within two points of third-place Gladbach with the win.
Erling Haaland scored a hat-trick on his Bundesliga debut as Dortmund thrashed Augsburg 5-3. The visitors were 3-1 down before Haaland came on as a second-half substitute. Julian Brandt and Jadon Sancho also got on the scoresheet for Dortmund.
A John Cordoba brace helped Koln to a fourth straight victory as the Billy Goats beat Wolfsburg 3-1. Jonas Hector completed the scoring for Koln, while Renato Steffan scored a consolation goal for Wolfsburg.
Eintracht kicked off the second half of the season with a much-needed win away at Hoffenheim. Bas Dost and Timothy Chandler scored either side of Kostas Stafylidis to move Frankfurt up to eleventh – six points behind Hoffenheim.
Despite recording 24 shots against Freiburg, Mainz only managed to score one goal as they were beaten 2-1. Kwon Chang-hoon and Nils Petersen got the goals for the away side who saw just 40% of the possession at the Coface Arena.
Werder got the better of fellow relegation strugglers Mainz in a crucial six-pointer at the bottom of the table. Florian Kastenmeier’s own goal on 66 minutes proved to be the difference between the two sides, while Niklas Moisander was sent off for Bremen in second-half injury time.
RB Leipzig scored at least three goals for the ninth consecutive league game as they came from behind to beat Union Berlin. Marius Bulter gave Union the lead after 10 minutes, but a goal from Marcel Sabitzer and a Timo Werner double means Leipzig are now four points clear at the top of the table.
After going an hour without a goal, Bayern Munich scored four in the final 30 minutes to hammer Hertha. Thomas Muller, Robert Lewandowski, Thiago Alacantara and Ivan Perisic all scored for Bayern, moving the reigning champions up to second in the standings.
Bayer Leverkusen also scored four as they beat Paderborn 4-1. Kevin Volland scored twice in the space of three minutes to put Bayer ahead, before Julian Baumgartlinger made it 3-0. Dennis Srbeny pulled one back for Paderborn just after half time, but Kai Havertz put the game beyond any doubt with 15 minutes to play.