German league: Bayern move 9 points away from nearest rivals

BERLIN (Reuters) - Bayern Munich have moved nine points clear of their rivals in the last five seasons after a tough 1-0 home victory over Cologne on Wednesday.

Bayern beat Bayern Munich's Robert Lefandowski, who scored the only goal in the 60th minute, boosting his lead to score goals with 15 goals, three more than Gamboni's Pierre Emeric Obamyang (Borussia Dortmund striker).

Bayern, who had a 2-2 win at home to Augsburg 3-2, were held to a 38-point advantage over Schalke 04.

Bayern had been in the previous stage for the Moral Winter Champion, and will play their last match against Stuttgart in the next stage before the traditional winter break.

The Bundesliga will be held until next January 12.

The Bavarian side are also on the Champions League front five times, and have a chance to go far in the tournament after the draw for the final in a relatively easy match against Turkish side Besiktas in February.

Bayern were re-established in the European Championship against Paris St Germain by beating them 3-1 in the last round of the group stage, after their match in the second round, which won the French team 3-0 at home, caused a crisis for weeks led to the dismissal of the coach Italian Carlo Ancelotti and assign the task to the veteran coach Yup Heinkis.

Cologne, the three-time champion of Germany in 1962, 1964 and 1978, is the only team in the league so far to win only three points from three draws in 16 stages. It was not helpful to sack Austrian coach Peter Stoiger four years after taking over, , Coach of the under-19 team, to supervise him until the end of the season.

Colin made the worst start of a season in his history.

Röthenbeck failed in his first official game with an over-the-clock win when Cologne took home Freiburg 3-0 on Sunday and lost 3-4 penalties in stoppage time.

In the second game, Schalke took advantage of Leipzig's runners-up last season with a 1-1 draw at VfL Wolfsburg, finishing second with a 3-2 victory over Augsburg.

Argentina's Franco de Santo (44), Guido Burghstaaler (47), Daniel Kaligari (83), Schalke 04 (Kyugi 64) and Michael Gregorich (79).

Schalke were up 29 points, one ahead of Leipzig, who fell to third.

Hoffenheim were third in the standings with a 1-0 win over Stuttgart, but settled at the end of the stage in fifth place with 26 points.

Mark Hohenheim's Mark Alexander Outh was beaten nine minutes from time.

The 25-year-old has received a right-winger from Pavel Kaderbabek from the right and finished the scoring with eight goals this season.

Stuttgart, meanwhile, have 17 points in 14th place.

Bayer Leverkusen stayed close to the top of the table with a 3-0 win over Werder Bremen.

Hertha Berlin beat Hanover 3-0 with Salomon Kalou (18, 45) and Jordan Torunariga (83).

Dortmund beat Saturday's Mainz 2-0, while Eintracht Frankfurt beat Hamburg 2-1 and Freiburg beat Borussia Monchengladbach 1-0.