A roundup of all the day’s action on Chicharito’s personal playground in Germany’s top flight, the Bundesliga…
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Bayern Munich 2-0 Ingolstadt
Pep Guardiola’s Bayern Munich, which should once again be crowned Bundesliga champions by early April, rode second-half goals scored by Robert Lewandowski (65th minute – below video) — what, you’re surprised? — and Philipp Lahm (75th minute) to re-establish an eight-point lead (43 points) atop the league table, with second-place Borussia Dortmund still to play on Sunday.
Darmstadt 0-4 Hertha Berlin
Which side is easily the biggest surprise of the current Bundesliga season? Easy answer: third-place Hertha Berlin, who hammered 12th-place Darmstadt 4-0 on Saturday. Vedad Ibisevic bagged a brace (12th and 50th minutes) to go along with single tallies from Marvin Plattenhardt (26th) and ex-Chelsea man Salomon Kalou (77th). U.S. national team defender John Brooks started the game and played all 90 minutes for the victors, his fifth-straight game playing all 90 minutes.
Wolfsburg 1-1 Hamburg
In the race for the UEFA Champions League, Wolfsburg leapfrogged Borussia Monchengladbach on Saturday, despite a disappointing home draw with Hamburg, thanks to Bayer Leverkusen’s dismantling of Gladbach in the day’s final game. Nicolai Muller put the visitors on top after 21 minutes, but Maximilian Arnold equalized for Wolfsburg in the 78th minute to prevent back-to-back league defeats for Dieter Hecking’s side.
Bayer Leverkusen 5-0 Borussia Monchengladbach
You read the headline — Javier “Chicharito” Hernandez scored a hat trick for Bayer Leverkusen on Saturday. This is just about the least surprising news you’re bound to hear all weekend — in his last 12 games for Leverkusen, the Mexican national team star has scored 15 goals (all competitions), now including five in the last three. Saturday’s hat trick came in a 13-minute span from minutes 63 to 76 and included goals in back-to-back minutes in the 75th and 76th. With the victory, Leverkusen climb up to sixth in the league table, just two points behind Wolfsburg for the fourth and final Champions League place.
Anyway, let’s go ahead and roll the footage…
The quality of those goals, particularly the first two. Speaking of which, it sure was nice of Manchester United to ship Hernandez off to Germany, seeing as how they have so many red-hot goalscorers of their own right now. He’d surely not be able to help them one bit these days.
Elsewhere in the Bundesliga
Werder Bremen 1-1 Koln
Hoffenheim 1-0 Hannover
Sunday’s Bundesliga schedule
Augsburg vs. Schalke (9:30 a.m. ET)
Borussia Dortmund vs. Eintracht Frankfurt (11:30 a.m. ET)
| Team | GP | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Home | Away | PTS |
| Bayern Munich | 16 | 14 | 1 | 1 | 45 | 8 | 37 | 9-0-0 | 5-1-1 | 43 |
| Borussia Dortmund | 15 | 11 | 2 | 2 | 42 | 20 | 22 | 6-1-0 | 5-1-2 | 35 |
| Hertha BSC Berlin | 16 | 9 | 2 | 5 | 24 | 18 | 6 | 5-1-1 | 4-1-4 | 29 |
| VfL Wolfsburg | 16 | 7 | 5 | 4 | 25 | 18 | 7 | 6-2-1 | 1-3-3 | 26 |
| Mönchengladbach | 16 | 8 | 2 | 6 | 31 | 28 | 3 | 5-1-2 | 3-1-4 | 26 |
| Bayer Leverkusen | 16 | 7 | 3 | 6 | 24 | 20 | 4 | 4-2-2 | 3-1-4 | 24 |
| FSV Mainz 05 | 16 | 7 | 3 | 6 | 23 | 21 | 2 | 4-1-4 | 3-2-2 | 24 |
| FC Schalke 04 | 15 | 7 | 3 | 5 | 21 | 21 | 0 | 4-2-2 | 3-1-3 | 24 |
| Hamburger SV | 16 | 6 | 4 | 6 | 19 | 22 | -3 | 2-2-3 | 4-2-3 | 22 |
| 1. FC Köln | 16 | 5 | 6 | 5 | 16 | 20 | -4 | 2-4-2 | 3-2-3 | 21 |
| FC Ingolstadt 04 | 16 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 11 | 17 | -6 | 2-2-3 | 3-3-3 | 20 |
| Darmstadt | 16 | 4 | 6 | 6 | 15 | 23 | -8 | 1-4-4 | 3-2-2 | 18 |
| Werder Bremen | 16 | 4 | 3 | 9 | 16 | 30 | -14 | 1-1-6 | 3-2-3 | 15 |
| Eintracht Frankfurt | 15 | 3 | 5 | 7 | 18 | 23 | -5 | 1-3-3 | 2-2-4 | 14 |
| Hannover 96 | 16 | 4 | 2 | 10 | 18 | 28 | -10 | 2-0-5 | 2-2-5 | 14 |
| FC Augsburg | 15 | 3 | 4 | 8 | 18 | 25 | -7 | 1-2-5 | 2-2-3 | 13 |
| 1899 Hoffenheim | 16 | 2 | 7 | 7 | 17 | 24 | -7 | 1-4-3 | 1-3-4 | 13 |
| VfB Stuttgart | 16 | 3 | 3 | 10 | 19 | 36 | -17 | 2-1-5 | 1-2-5 | 12 |