Hertha take challenger role

As Bayern Munich's traditional rivals continue to drop points, Hertha Berlin has taken the mantle of challenging the leader with its best ever start in the Bundesliga. BAYERN MUNICH 2, BORUSSIA M’GLADBACH 0

Bayern attacked from the off and duly went ahead in the 16th minute when Arturo Vidal powered a header under the bar from Rafinha's cross.

Fifteen minutes later, Douglas Costa celebrated his first start of the season by taking David Alaba's cross on his chest and firing the ball inside the left post. The Brazilian ran over to two fans, posed and took a selfie with them.

It was all Bayern with 'Gladbach offering next to nothing in attack. But for an early shot over on a counterattack from Fabian Johnson, every other effort in the first half came from the home side. INGOLSTADT DORTMUND 3 3, BORUSSIA

Dortmund's title chances took another blow after dropping points for the fourth time in eight games.

Almog Cohen gave Ingolstadt an early lead after a poorly defended free kick, then Roman Weidenfeller prevented the home side going further ahead when he blocked Lukas Hinterseer's overhead kick. Weidenfeller started for the first time since March as Roman Buerki had a cold.

Another free kick from a similar position on the right allowed Dario Lezcano to head in Ingolstadt's second.

Thomas Tuchel sent on Pulisic after the break and Mario Goetze shortly afterward. The latter was involved straight away as PierreEmerick Aubameyang pulled one back with his seventh of the season.

The celebrations lasted less than a minute, however, as Lezcano grabbed his second, minutes before Ingolstadt hit the post.

Pulisic set up Adrian Ramos to get within one in the 69th, and he prodded home the equalizer from close range in the last minute after Orjan Nyland saved Lukasz Piszczek's initial effort.

HERTHA BERLIN 2, COLOGNE 1

Ibisevic fired Hertha into an early lead after a fine run and cross from Mitchell Weiser.

Anthony Modeste grabbed the equalizer with his league-leading eighth goal of the season in the 65th, converted from close range after great interplay between Jonas Hector, Konstantin Rausch, and Leonardo Bittencourt.

But Niklas Stark grabbed the winner less than 10 minutes later for the high-flying home side. DARMSTADT BURG 1

Valerien Ismael's tenure at Wolfsburg got off to a rocky start when last defender Jeffrey Bruma was sent off for denying a clear goal chance. Anis BenHatira scored from the resulting 3, WOLFS- free kick in the 25th.

Germany striker Mario Gomez equalized on the hour with his first Wolfsburg goal, but Laszlo Kleinheisler restored the home side's advantage eight minutes later, and Sandro Sirigu sealed the win.

Ismael's predecessor, Dieter Hecking, was sacked on Monday. BAYER LEVERKUSEN HOFFENHEIM 3

Leverkusen was dealt a blow when forward Kevin Volland was sent off against his former side in the sixth minute for denying Kerem Demirbay a clear goal chance.

Demirbay fired under the bar to open the scoring, Sandro Wagner made it 2-0 early in the second half, and set up Steven Zuber to score on the hour. FREIBURG 2, AUGSBURG 1 Second-half goals from Maximilian Philipp and Nils Petersen, both set up by Vincenzo Grifo, gave Freiburg its fourth win of the season. 0, Today

PW D Bayern Munich 8 6 2 Hertha Berlin 8 5 2 Hoffenheim 8 4 4 1. FC Koln 8 4 3 RB Leipzig 7 4 3 Dortmund 8 4 2 E. Frankfurt 8 4 2 Freiburg 8 4 0 Mainz 7 3 2 B. M’gladbach 8 3 2 B. Leverkusen 8 3 1 Augsburg 8 2 2 Darmstadt 8 2 2 W. Bremen 7 2 1 Wolfsburg 8 1 3 Schalke 7 1 1 Ingolstadt 8 0 2 Hamburger 8 0 2 L F A Pts 0 20 4 20 1 14 9 17 0 16 10 16 1 13 6 15 0 12 5 15 2 20 10 14 2 13 8 14 4 10 12 12 2 14 12 11 3 10 12 11 4 11 12 10 4 7 11 8 4 8 15 8 4 9 18 7 4 5 11 6 5 7 11 4 6 7 17 2 6 2 15 2