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Schalke need to beat Cologne

BERLIN, Oct 2, (AFP): Robert Lewandowski aims to add to his incredible goal-scoring run in Bayern Munich’s Bundesliga showdown against ex-club Borussia Dortmund in Germany’s ‘Der Klassiker’ on Sunday. The Poland hot-shot has netted 10 times in his last three games alone and has scored 17 goals for club and country this season.

He backed up his spectacular five goals in just nine minutes for Bayern against Wolfsburg last week with two more in a 3-0 win at Mainz last Saturday in the Bundesliga. He then bagged a hat-trick in the 5-0 win at home to Dinamo Zagreb on Tuesday in the Champions League.

Bayern top the Bundesliga table with seven wins from seven to lead second-placed Dortmund by four points after Thomas Tuchel’s team drew their last two league matches against Hoffenheim and Darmstadt. Bayern-Dortmund matches are billed as ‘Der Klassiker’ in Germany in mimmick to Spain’s ‘El Clasico’ between Barcelona and Real Madrid.

This is the 19th time the teams have met in the last five years and Dortmund lead the series with nine wins, two draws and seven defeats. Bayern, however, won the match that truly mattered by claiming a 2-1 win at Wembley in the 2013 Champions League final.

Before the clash in Munich, third-placed Schalke, who start the weekend a point behind Dortmund, need to beat Cologne at home on Sunday to stay in touch with the leaders. After their respective midweek Champions League defeats to Manchester City and United, Borussia Moenchengladbach and Wolfsburg clash at Borussia-Park on Saturday.

Gladbach’s caretaker coach Andre Schubert is chasing his third straight league win as the hunt to find Lucien Favre’s replacement goes on.

Standings

                 P            W            D             L              GF           GA          Pts

Bayern  7             7              0              0              23           3              21

 Dortmund          7              5              2              0              21           6              17

Schalke 04           7              5              1              1              10           5              16

VfL Wolfsburg   7              3              3              1              10           8              12

Bayer Leverkusen            7              4              0              3              7              8              12

Hertha Berlin     7              3              2              2              8              8              11

Cologne               7              3              2              2              10           12           11

Ingolstadt 04      7              3              2              2              4              6              11

Darmstadt 98     7              2              4              1              8              9              10

Hamburg             7              3              1              3              8              10           10

Eintracht              7             2              3              2              13           9              9

Mainz 05              7              3              0              4              9              9              9

Werder Bremen               7              2              1              4              7              12           7

 Gladbach            7              2              0              5              9              15           6

Hoffenheim       7              1              2              4              8              12           5

Augsburg             7              1              1              5              7              12           4

 Stuttgart             7              1              0              6              9              17           3

Hanover 96         7              0              2              5              6              16           2

Note: Standing read as played, won, drawn, lost, goals for, goals against, points.

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