Super Mario stars for Bayern

MARIO GOMEZ made it eight goals in seven Bundesliga games this season with a brace as Bayern Munich hammered Hertha Berlin 4-0 to strengthen their position at the top.

The Germany striker opener the scoring in the fifth minute before completing the rout with a 69th-minute penalty.

Franck Ribery and Bastian Schweinsteiger had made it 3-0 inside the first 13 minutes to lift Bayern five points clear of Borussia Monchengladbach.

“We played economically,” said Bayern coach Jupp Heynckes. “If we had wanted to step it up a bit then we would have been able to.”

Gladbach conceded three minutes from time as they had to settle for a 2-2 draw at home to Bayer Leverkusen.

Schalke missed the chance to go second after a shock 2-1 home defeat to Kaiserslautern.

Stuttgart moved level on points with Borussia Dortmund and Werder Bremen in third with a 2-0 win at home to Hoffenheim, Shinji Okazaki opened the scoring in the 48th minute and then Pavel Pogrebnyak converted from the spot after 77 minutes to settle the game.

Yesterday Hamburg won 2-1 at Freiburg. Lucas Podolski was inevitably the hero with a brace as Cologne beat Hannover 2-0.