体坛英语新闻：Relentless Bayern march on, Wolfsburg drop points in German Bundesliga

BERLIN, Nov. 7 (Xinhua) -- Front-runners Bayern Munich cruised to a 4-0 victory over Stuttgart at the Southern derby meanwhile Mainz upset third placed Wolfsburg 2-0 at the 12th round in German Bundesliga on Saturday.

After crushing Arsenal 4-1 in Champions League, Bayern Munich continued with their goal-festivals in the Bundesliga as Josep Guardiola's men swept Stuttgart with four first-half goals to seal the deal before the break.

The German record champions needed only 11 minutes to open the scoring as Arjen Robben completed a counter attack thanks to the build-up by Douglas Costa following a Stuttgart corner.

Costa got his name on the score sheets only seven minutes later as he made use of Thomas Mueller's square pass to slot home from 17 meters.

The "Swabians" were unable to put up some resistance allowing the "Bavarians" to triple the lead through Bundesliga top scorer Robert Lewandowski, who tapped in Mueller's pinpoint cross into the box at the 37th minute.

The hosts weren't done with the scoring as Mueller rounded off his performance with two assists and one goal to put the game beyond doubt moments later.

After the restart, Bayern retracted meanwhile Stuttgart's consolation goal was denied by referee Bastian Dankert due to a supposed offside position by Timo Werner.

With the result, Bayern increase their advantage atop the standings for now while Stuttgart slump into the drop zone after suffering the eighth loss.

Third placed Wolfsburg suffered a setback in the hunt for Bayern and Dortmund as Dieter Hecking's men lost 2-0 to Mainz on the road.

The "Wolves" were in search for their fourth win in row but things started other than expected, as Julian Draxler saw a straight card for an unintentionally but heavy foul play to Mainz' Gonzalo Jara, who met Draxler's high leg in the face with 14 minutes played.

Things went from bad to worse for the visitors as Diego Benaglio's parry landed in the path of Pablo De Blasis, who had no problems to tap home the opener in the 31st minute. Ten-men Wolfsburg were unable to fight back thus Mainz' Yunus Malli made the game safe by scoring his seventh goal of the season at the 75th minute.

Mainz' fifth win of the campaign move the "Nullfuenfer" on the 9th place whilst Wolfsburg stay on the third place, five points adrift of Dortmund who step into contest tomorrow.

Cologne reaped a 2-1 victory over rivals Leverkusen at the 57th Rhine derby by courtesy of Dominic Maroh's brace.

Cologne started aggressively into the encounter and broke the deadlock with 17 minutes into the game as Marcel Risse's free kick crossed into the box and found Dominci Maroh.

Leverkusen responded and restored parity thanks to Javier Hernandez, whose header following a cross by Admir Mehmedi found the back of the next at the 33rd minute.

The second half started with a blow for Leverkusen, as Kyriakos Papadopoulos was sent off for a professional foul to Anthony Modeste at the 53rd minute. The visitors took advantage of their superior number as Dominic Maroh wrapped up his brace and the 2-1 victory for Cologne.

After suffering the second straight loss, Leverkusen slump to the 8th place meanwhile Cologne climb on the 7th position of the table.

Elsewhere, Monchengladbach and Ingolstadt as well as Hoffenheim and Frankfurt shared the spoils after goalless 90 minutes and newly promoted Darmstadt held Hamburg to 1-1 draw.

The following fixtures conclude the 12th round in Bundesliga: runner-up Dortmund clash with Schalke for the 147th "Revierderby" and last placed Augsburg host Bremen.