Bayern back top after beating Schalke

Bayern Munich returned to the top of the Bundesliga with their fifth straight win after comfortably seeing off Schalke 2-0. Nils Petersen and Thomas Muller scored the goals for a Bayern side who did not even need to move out of first gear to beat the Royal Blues, who succumbed to their second straight defeat. Bayern goalkeeper Manuel Neuer, making his first return to the Arena AufSchalke since his summer transfer between the two clubs, was nothing more than a spectator for 90 minutes, as he had been as a young boy on the terraces of Gelsenkirchen's Park Stadion. Bayern were without their top goalscorer Mario Gomez, who had scored seven goals in his last two league matches, but this did not seem to be too great a problem. He was replaced by summer signing Petersen, who crowned his first start for Bayern with the opening goal after 21 minutes. Franck Ribery raced out of his own half with no opposition until he approached the final third of the field. He saw Petersen in space inside him and, although the striker's first shot was saved by Ralf Fahrmann, he followed up to dispatch the rebound. Schalke had chances to level, with Klaas Jan Huntelaar going close in the 29th minute and even closer five minutes later, but Bayern were largely in the driving seat. Petersen makes points safe Petersen had the chance to emphasise their superiority early in the second half, but after good build-up play involving Bastian Schweinsteiger and Ribery, the former Energie Cottbus striker made a mess of his shot from ten yards. Bayern netted their second goal in the 75th minute to put further daylight between themselves and their opponents. David Alaba and Ribery exchanged passes down the right and the latter's cross was poorly cleared by Kyriakos Papadopoulos, allowing Muller to double Bayern's advantage and effectively seal his side's fifth straight victory. It was supposed to be a day when Neuer was the focus of attention, but the home side were unable to give him any work to do as Bayern moved ominously back to the top of the table.