Talking points from the Bundesliga weekend:
LEWANDOWSKI NEARS MULLER RECORD
Bayern Munich sewed up a routine 3-1 victory at Werder Bremen on Saturday but the scoreline failed to underline how dominant the league leaders were, particularly their striker Robert Lewandowski.
The Poland international could have grabbed a hat-trick but hit the woodwork twice and was denied twice again by goalkeeper Jiri Pavlenka but a tap-in allowed him to climb to second in the Bundesliga's all-time scorers list with 268 goals.
While Gerd Mueller's record of 365 Bundesliga goals will require an extraordinary effort to break, 32-year-old Lewandowski is still on course to break the German's record of 40 goals in a season after his 32nd strike.
"I would say that Lewandowski will score at least 41 goals this season and break Mueller's record," former Bayern and Germany midfielder Lothar Matthaus said, with nine more rounds to play.
LEIPZIG LOSE GROUND, TOP FOUR RACE HEATS UP
Bayern were also the winners in the top four contest between RB Leipzig and Eintracht Frankfurt which ended with both teams sharing the spoils in a 1-1 draw. Second-placed Leipzig are now four points off the league leaders.
Julian Nagelsmann rang in the changes after their midweek Champions League exit but Frankfurt were up to the task to break their six-match Bundesliga win streak and stay in the hunt for Champions League qualification.
The draw also gave fifth-placed Borussia Dortmund -- two points behind Frankfurt -- the opportunity to catch up with a 2-0 win over Hertha Berlin.
Bayer Leverkusen, sixth, failed to leapfrog Dortmund after a 2-1 home loss to lowly Arminia Bielefeld and sit two points behind.
ROCK BOTTOM SCHALKE NEARING POINT OF NO RETURN
Schalke 04 have won only one match all season and there was little Dimitrios Grammozis -- their fifth coach this campaign --could do as VfL Wolfsburg ran riot to win 5-0 after Shkodran Mustafi opened the scoring with the club's fourth own goal this season.
The German World Cup winner was a mere spectator for the second and had his pocket picked for the third goal as Wolfsburg consolidated third spot.
Relying on players well past their prime in a gamble to stay up has backfired spectacularly for Schalke and with a 11-point gap to bridge, their survival hopes are quickly evolving from highly improbable to mathematically impossible.
(Reporting by Rohith Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Christian Radnedge)
