Defending champion Bayern Munich got its first league win of the season at the third attempt to give Jurgen Klinsmann his opening Bundesliga victory as Hertha Berlin was humbled 4-1 on Sunday.
After drawing with both Hamburg and Dortmund in its opening games, Bayern coach Klinsmann was under pressure after his star-studded team had failed to fire, but the ex-Germany coach was all smiles after his side's win.
"The team did all the things we had planned to do from the outset," said a beaming Klinsmann after the final whistle at Munich's Allianz Arena.
"We forced the goals and played very well, things are starting to roll now."
Bayern is now up to seventh in the table having dominated Hertha from the start as Italian World Cup winner Luca Toni scored on 12 minutes with an individual strike after slipping the Berlin defence.
Germany defender Philipp Lahm then added a second with a right-foot thunderbolt on 54 minutes before his Mannschaft colleague Bastian Schweinsteiger converted the penalty he was awarded just two minutes later.
"Things just went well for us," said Schweinsteiger.
"But we can still play much, much better."
It was a bad afternoon for Berlin's Swiss defender Steve von Bergen.
Having tripped Schweinsteiger, he then conceeded a second penalty after fouling Bayern midfielder Ze Roberto for striker Miroslav Klose to make it 4-0 on 61 minutes.
"In the last few weeks, I have worked hard and this goal is a good indicator for me," said Klose.
Hertha's Serbian striker Marko Pantelic managed a consolation goal with time running out, but it capped a bad day for Berlin who drop from third to tenth after the weekend's results.
Also on Sunday, VfB Stuttgart moved up to fifth in the table after its 2-0 win over Hanover thanks to first-half goals by Germany forward Mario Gomez and a penalty from Mexico midfielder Pavel Pardo.
On Saturday, Schalke 04 went top of the Bundesliga thanks to a superb header from Germany defender Heiko Westermann to seal a 1-0 win over VfL Bochum to knock Hoffenheim from top place.
Having earned its second promotion in two seasons, Hoffenheim had shocked the German league by taking an early lead at the top of the table with wins over Borussia Moenchengladbach and Energie Cottbus.
But two second-half strikes by Germany striker Stefan Kiessling ended Hoffenheim's hopes on Saturday despite a brief fightback as it went down 5-2 to leave Bayer Leverkusen fourth.
Hamburg is second in the table, and levels on seven points with Schalke, after coming from behind in Bielefeld to claim a 4-2 win.
Despite being drawn with Inter Milan in Group B of this season's Champions League competition, Werder Bremen suffered the humiliation of being humbled 3-2 by newly-promoted Borussia Moenchengladbach.
(AFP via China Daily September 2, 2008)