Dortmund drop points, Bayern triumph at Schalke

Napoli's Valon Behrami (L) and Borussia Dortmund's Jakub Blaszczykowski fight for the ball during their Champions League Group F soccer match at San Paolo stadium in Naples September 18, 2013.[Photo/Agencies]

BERLIN - Front-runners Dortmund squandered their lead in the standings with a draw at Nuremberg meanwhile Bayern cruised to a 4-0 win over Schalke to catch up with the BVB in the German Bundesliga on Saturday.

Nuremberg stopped Dortmund's winning streak at the sixth round, as Marcel Schmelzer's stunning free kick goal wasn't enough to snatch three points on the road.

Juergen Klopp's men controlled the opening period yet they were lucky not to fall behind with 19 minutes into the encounter as Mike Frantz's header only rattled the crossbar, thanks to the fingertips by goalkeeper Roman Weidenfeller.

However, Schmelzer's stunning 21-meter free kick goal into the top right corner broke the deadlock for Dortmund at the 37th minute.

It was a short-lived joy for the front-runners as Nuremberg restored parity through Per Nilsson at the 51st minute. Dortmund pressed frantically for the winner but courageous Nuremberg were able to see off the chances.

"We had a bunch of golden chances after the 1-1 draw but we can life with the share of the spoils," Dortmund coach Juergen Klopp stated.

Bayern Munich capitalized on Dortmund's draw as they were able to reap a powerful 4-0 victory over Schalke that suffered their third loss.

Schalke started highly motivated and offensively minded on home soil to make Bayern's life difficult. Nevertheless, it were the Bavarians that opened the scoring against the run of the game when Arjen Robben's corner found Bastian Schweinsteiger's head inside the box at the 21st minute.

Only one minute later Bayern gave Schalke the second blow as Mario Mandzukic nodded home David Alaba's cross.

The "Royal Blues" were incapable to keep Bayern on distance. Thus, Franck Ribery and Claudio Pizzaro rounded off Bayern's 4-0 triumph against hapless Schalke.

"I am very satisfied with the performance of my team, although we suffered to many turnovers," Bayern coach Pep Guardiola said.

Elsewhere, Bayer Leverkusen crushed Mainz 4-1 in a one sided match owing to the double score by Robbie Kruse. The "Werkself" remain in touching distance to Bayern and Dortmund due to their fifth win of the season.

Hamburg situation worsened when they lost 2-0 to rivals Bremen at the 99th Northern derby. Nils Petersen's brace was sufficient to inflict struggling Hamburg the fourth loss.

Hannover came from behind against Augsburg to seal a 2-1 win and Wolfsburg wrapped their third consecutive win on home soil following a 2-1-comeback win.

The following games are scheduled for Sunday: Freiburg host newly promoted Berlin and Stuttgart face Frankfurt.