Bayern leave it late to keep pace with Dortmund

Thomas Mueller converted a controversial 90th minute penalty as Bayern Munich came back from a goal down to defeat Bavarian rivals Augsburg 2-1 while Borussia Dortmund also made it four Bundesliga wins from four on Saturday.

Robert Lewandowski began the champions' comeback as the Polish international struck with 13 minutes left after Alexander Esswein had opened the scoring for the visitors on the stroke of half-time.

However, as the match appeared to be heading for a draw, the referee harshly pointed to the spot with time running out when Douglas Costa was brought down by Markus Feulner, which allowed the cool-headed Mueller to snatch the points for Bayern.  

Bayern coach Pep Guardiola fielded a weakened line-up with one eye on their Champions League group match against Olympiakos, on Wednesday in Athens, and was without star forward Arjen Robben, who out for four weeks with a groin injury picked up on international duty.

Augsburg had won the same fixture last season 1-0 when Raul Bobadilla grabbed a late winner.

"I know how difficult it can be after the international break but that is not an excuse," said Guardiola.
"We have to play for 90 minutes and not just 45. During the first-half we were not in the match and our game was very, very slow. I hope we can improve on that but Augsburg defended very well. In the second half, we created a lot more chances," added the Spaniard.

Augsburg coach Markus Weinzierl was proud of his players but dejected about the late penalty decision which cost his side a point.

"We played well for 90 minutes, we fought and put into place our game plan but it is obviously impossible to defend everything against Bayern," said Weinzierl, whose team are still chasing their first win of the campaign.

"We deserved a point and the boys were fantastic so I feel sorry for them. The penalty was a disastrous decision but we turned in a great performance and we can certainly build on this," he added.

- Dortmund keep rolling -

Dortmund kept pace with their bitter rivals after they rode a pair of penalties from Gabon international Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang to come back and defeat Hanover 4-2 at the HDI-Arena.
Artur Sobiech had given the winless hosts an 18th minute lead before Aubameyang converted the first of his spot-kicks 10 minutes before half-time.

Henrik Mikhitaryan put Dortmund in front for the first time just before the break before Sobiech grabbed his second on 53 minutes to level the match at 2-2.

Brazilian defender Felipe was the unfortunate victim of an own goal with 23 minutes left to give Dortmund the lead for the second time before Aubameyang slotted home his second penalty on 85 minutes to put the result beyond doubt.

"It was a superb team performance," said Dortmund coach Thomas Tuchel, who was particularly pleased with the "patience of the team when they were 1-0 down" as well as the "response after the equaliser".
Elsewhere, promoted SV Darmstadt 98 found the back of the net after just eight minutes against Bayer Leverkusen thanks to captain Aytac Sulu as they held on for a 1-0 win, their first top flight victory in 33 years.  

Hertha Berlin picked up their second win of the season with goals from Japanese international Genki Haraguchi and captain Fabian Lustenberger to edge Stuttgart 2-1 while FC Ingolstadt and Wolfsburg finished 0-0.

Last year's leading scorer Alex Meier marked his return from injury with a hat-trick as Eintracht Frankfurt thumped Cologne 6-2 while on Sunday Hoffenheim await Werder Bremen and Mainz travel to Schalke.

On Friday, Hamburg, who only avoided relegation for the first time in club history via the playoffs last season, moved into the upper half of the table with a fine 3-0 win at Borussia Moenchengladbach, who remain rock bottom with no points, having finished third last season.
Source: AFP