Borussia Dortmund extended their lead at the top of the German league as Bayer Leverkusen overtook Mainz behind them. A heavy loss to Borussia Monchengladbach saw Cologne replace them at the bottom of the table.

Second half goals from Kagawa and Barrios saw leaders Dortmund break the 30 point barrier as visitors Hamburg had no reply in the first fixture of this round on Friday night. A late Renato Augusto goal claimed all three points for Bayer Leverkusen against St Pauli and they moved into second place, seven points behind the leaders. One-time leaders Mainz continued their recent poor form going down 1-0 at home to Hannover 96 who themselves had suffered a 4-0 home drubbing from the leaders the previous week. It was Mainz’s third successive defeat, a trend they will hope to reverse very quickly.  SC Freiburg moved into fourth with an away victory at TSG Hoffenheim, leaping above Eintracht Frankfurt who shared the points with a goal-less draw at Bremen.

Cologne now prop up the Bundesliga following a second half nightmare against Monchengladbach. The visitors scored four without reply to claim their second win of the season, both now achieved away from home. Schalke 04 fought back from 2-0 down to claim what could be a valuable point longer term. FC Kaiserslautern and VfB Stuttgart battled out an entertaining 3-3 draw which will have pleased the home fans somewhat more than the visitors who threw away a 3-0 lead inside twenty second half minutes.