Gomez triple sends Bayern top

Posted Sunday, August 28, 2011 by YAHOO Sport

* Bayern beat Kaiserslautern 3-0

* Werder snatch late win to go second

* Hamburg lose again (Adds details)

By Karolos Grohmann

BERLIN, Aug 27 (Reuters) - Bayern Munich’s Mario Gomez scored a hat-trick to give his team a 3-0 win at Kaiserslautern on Saturday and send the Bavarians to the top of the Bundesliga.

Gomez, last season’s Bundesliga top scorer, converted a 37th-minute penalty and added another 10 minutes after the restart, when goalkeeper Kevin Trapp saved the striker’s second spot-kick before Gomez tapped in the rebound.

The Germany international completed his hat-trick by firing in from close range after a Thomas Mueller cross. Bayern, without the injured Arjen Robben, kept a clean sheet for the fifth consecutive game in all competitions.

Werder Bremen snatched a late 2-1 win at Hoffenheim thanks to a goal by Markus Rosenberg. They move to nine points, in second place behind Bayern on goal difference.

Freiburg piled misery on 2009 champions VfL Wolfsburg, crushing them 3-0 for their third straight defeat. Wolfsburg are in 15th place with three points from four games.

Hamburg thought they had ended their own bad run when they led twice against Cologne, but they had to suffer their third loss in four games when the visitors grabbed an entertaining 4-3 victory with two goals in the final six minutes.

POURED FORWARD

Bayern did not give Kaiserslautern time to find their footing in the game and, despite the absence of Robben, poured forward, mainly down the left wing with Philipp Lahm and Franck Ribery dictating play.

Kaiserslautern’s Trapp was kept busy from the start but was well beaten in the ninth minute, when Lahm was sent through by Gomez only to curl his shot wide from 10 metres out.

Bayern, having fixed the defensive problems that plagued them last season, kept the hosts on the backfoot but needed a penalty to break the deadlock. Gomez sent Trapp the wrong way for the deserved lead just before the break.

It was another penalty 10 minutes after the restart that essentially sealed their third successive league win, when Trapp saved Gomez’s effort but the striker was left unmarked to turn in the rebound.

With Kaiserslautern struggling, Gomez struck again, beating his marker to thunder in after Thomas Mueller had done all the work down the left wing.

Kaiserslautern were reduced to 10 men in the final minutes when Ivo Ilicevic was sent off for a hard foul on Anatoliy Tymoshchuk.

Champions Borussia Dortmund can join Bayern on nine points if they beat fellow Champions League competitors Bayer Leverkusen later on Saturday (1630 GMT).