BERLIN — Leader Bayern Munich set a new Bundesliga record for the best start to a season with its eighth successive win Saturday, crushing promoted Fortuna Duesseldorf 5-0 away. A Mario Mandzukic goal, Luiz Gustavo's close-range effort and two second-half goals from Thomas Mueller and one from Rafinha completed a fruitful day for Bayern as champion Borussia Dortmund slumped to a 2-1 home defeat by rival Schalke 04. Promoted Eintracht Frankfurt kept up its spectacular opening to the campaign with a 3-1 home victory over Hanover 96 to stay five points behind Bayern in second place. Schalke is third on 17 points with fellow Champions League competitor Dortmund, quickly dropping out of contention, in fourth on 12. Bayer Leverkusen rescued a 2-2 home draw against Mainz 05 courtesy of an 87th minute Gonzalo Castro goal while VfL Wolfsburg dropped to last place, beaten 2-0 by visitor Freiburg to increase pressure on coach Felix Magath. Bayern, which also set a record for the best goal difference at this stage of the Bundesliga with 26 goals for and only two conceded, got off to a quick start against the league newcomer which had only lost once beforehand. The visitor put the ball in the net in the 17th minute with Mueller thundering in a left-footed drive after a dazzling quick passing move but the effort was ruled offside. The Bavarians were undeterred and got their deserved lead through Croatian Mandzukic's seventh goal of the season which put him top of the league scorers' table. Mandzukic then set up Luiz Gustavo for Bayern's second goal, heading toward goal for the Brazilian to tap in from less than a meter out. The hosts were by that time in disarray and Mueller got his goal, firing in after a nice Franck Ribery pass. Two more late goals from Mueller – his sixth of the season – and Brazilian Rafinha completed the rout in style. Dortmund showed none of the same offensive appetite and was punished when Dutchman Ibrahim Afellay scored for visitors Schalke in the 14th minute with a well-timed shot. Marco Hoeger silenced the 80,0000 crowd at the Westfalen stadium three minutes after the restart, chasing down a perfect defence-splitting pass from Lewis Holtby to beat goalkeeper Roman Weidenfeller. Robert Lewandowski cut the deficit in the 55th with a header but the host soon ran out of ideas as it suffered its first defeat to local rival Schalke since February 2010 and saw their title defense take a further hit this season. — Reuters
