Borussia Dortmund went nine points clear at the top of the Bundesliga table after a 2-1 home win over Werder Bremen as nearest rivals Borussia Monchengladbach were held to a goalless draw.
Dortmund raced into an early two goal lead as Paco Alcacer scored after 19 minutes and Marco Reus doubled the advantage eight minutes later.
Max Kruse pulled a goal back for Bremen 10 minutes before half-time, but as neither side could find the target in the second half, Dortmund took the three points to strengthen their grip on first place in the table.
Defeat left Bremen ninth in the table and two points off a Europa League qualification spot.
Borussia Monchengladbach remain second despite being held to a 0-0 draw at Hoffenheim, who climbed to sixth as a result of picking up a point.
Joshua Kimmich inspired Bayern Munich to a 4-0 victory at struggling Hannover which moves them level on points with Monchengladbach.
Bayern have struggled this season but Kimmich showed them the way, giving them the lead after two minutes and also playing a part in two of their other goals.
David Alaba, Serge Gnabry and Robert Lewandowski were also on target against a Hannover side who rarely threatened the Bayern goal.
Hertha Berlin dropped out of the top six following their 2-1 defeat at Stuttgart, who are three points clear of the bottom two after the win.
Maximilian Mittelstadt gave Hertha the lead after 38 minutes but Stuttgart secured the points thanks to Mario Gomez’s double after 64 and 76 minutes.
Kaan Ayhan also scored twice, after 55 and 79 minutes, as Fortuna Dusseldorf defeated Freiburg 2-0 to boost Fortuna’s hopes of avoiding relegation.
Daniel Caligiuri earned a point for Schalke when he scored after 52 minutes in the 1-1 draw at Augsburg, who had taken the lead through Michael Gregoritsch with just 13 minutes on the clock.
