Bayern Munich returned to the top of the Bundesliga with their
fifth straight win after comfortably seeing off Schalke.
Nils Petersen and Thomas Muller scored the goals for a Bayern side
who did not even need to move out of first gear to beat the Royal
Blues, who succumbed to their second straight defeat.
Bayern goalkeeper Manuel Neuer, making his first return to the
Arena AufSchalke since his summer transfer between the two clubs,
was nothing more than a spectator for 90 minutes, as he had been
as a young boy on the terraces of Gelsenkirchen's Park Stadion.
Bayern were without their top goalscorer Mario Gomez, who had scored
seven goals in his last two league matches, but this did not seem
to be too great a problem.
He was replaced by summer signing Petersen, who crowned his first
start for Bayern with the opening goal after 21 minutes.
Franck Ribery raced out of his own half with no opposition until
he approached the final third of the field.
He saw Petersen in space inside him and, although the striker's
first shot was saved by Ralf Fahrmann, he followed up to dispatch
the rebound.
Schalke had chances to level with Klaas Jan Huntelaar going close
in the 29th minute and even closer five minutes later, but Bayern
were largely in the driving seat.
Petersen had the chance to emphasise their superiority early in
the second half, but after good build-up play involving Bastian
Schweinsteiger and Ribery, the former Energie Cottbus striker made
a hash of his shot from 10 yards.
Bayern netted their second goal in the 75th minute to put further
daylight between themselves and their opponents.
David Alaba and Ribery exchanged passes down the right and the
latter's cross was poorly cleared by Kyriakos Papadopoulos, allowing
Muller to double Bayern's advantage and effectively seal his side's
fifth straight victory.
It was supposed to be a day when Neuer was the focus of attention,
but the home side were unable to give him any work to do as Bayern
moved ominously back to the top of the table.
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