Defending champions Borussia Dortmund hammered Hamburg 5-1 on Sunday to join Bayern Munich and Schalke 04 at the top of the German league.
All three sides have 37 points, but Bayern, who slipped to a shock 3-1 defeat at fourth-placed Borussia Moenchengladbach on Friday, stay top by virtue of a superior goal difference.
"We wanted to finish with 37 points and we did that in impressive style," said Dortmund coach Jurgen Klopp. "We played our football and the lads were merciless."
Dortmund took the lead when Japan winger Shinji Kagawa slipped a pass through the Hamburg defence to allow Germany's Kevin Grosskreutz to fire home on 16 minutes.
"We played really good football, that was unbelievable," said Grosskreutz.
Poland striker Robert Lewandowski scored his 13th goal in 18 league games when he held off Germany defender Dennis Aogo to score on 37 minutes.
Dortmund midfielder and Poland captain Jakub Blaszczykowski -- known as Kuba -- made it 3-0 on 58 minutes before netting a 76th-minute penalty.
Lewandowski then danced through the defence for the fifth goal on 83 minutes.
Dortmund featured 23-year-old Australian Mitchell Langerak in goal, with the former Melbourne Victory shot-stopper stepping in for veteran Roman Weidenfeller, who failed to recover from back pains.
Langerak was making only his second league appearance, having made his Bundesliga debut against Bayern in Dortmund's 3-1 victory last February as Borussia went onto win the title.
Hamburg grabbed a consolation when Langerak managed to deny Zhi-Gin Lam, but Peru striker Jose Guerrero pounced on the loose ball to net on 86 minutes.
Having taken over in October, this was the first defeat for Hamburg coach Thorsten Fink.
"We played badly, we gave Dortmund too much respect and I don't know why," said Fink.
"We were missing a bit of bravery and that is something we must work on this week."
On Saturday, Schalke coach Huub Stevens admitted he was in dreamland as the Royal Blues also drew level with Bayern after their 3-1 win over Stuttgart.
A goal after just three minutes from 20-year-old Cameroon midfielder Joel Matip put Schalke ahead against the 2007 champions before Greek defender Kyriakos Papadopoulos headed home on 57 minutes.
Schalke's 18-year-old midfielder Julian Draxler then scored his side's third with 10 minutes left after being set up by Netherlands striker Klaas-Jan Huntelaar.
Stuttgart's Japan striker Shinji Okazaki scored a consolation goal three minutes from time.
"I know we have the same amount of points as Bayern and it's nice to dream," said Stevens.
Werder Bremen remain fifth after a goalless draw at Kaiserslautern, while Nuremberg beat Hertha Berlin 2-0 and Wolfsburg striker Sebastian Polter scored his second goal in two games to give Wolves a 1-0 win over Cologne.
Hoffenheim against Hanover finished goalless.
Freiburg proved there is life without Senegal striker Papiss Demba Cisse, who joined Newcastle United during the winter break, when they earned a 1-0 win over Augsburg through a late header from Matthias Ginter.
With both sides in the relegation places, the result lifted Freiburg up to 17th and put Augsburg on the bottom of the table.
Source: AFP
