Winners and Losers from Bundesliga Week 7
The Bundesliga returned from the international break with Pep Guardiola's Bayern Munich remaining four points clear.
The defending German champions maintained their lead at the top of the table with a 6-0 battering of beleaguered Werder Bremen.
Fans had to cope with travel chaos at the weekend, while we also saw the introduction of a new star with a guaranteed bright future: the free-kick spray.
Find out more winners and losers from Week 7, including another lacklustre loss for Jurgen Klopp's Borussia Dortmund.
Losers: Borussia Dortmund
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The season was supposed to start here for Jurgen Klopp and Borussia Dortmund, but there was more "woe de Cologne" after another dreadful loss on the Rhine.
Two schoolboy defensive errors cost Dortmund against Cologne, who had failed to score at home all season.
Klopp's charges languish just four places off the bottom and trail Bayern by 13 points after three straight league defeats.
Winner: Ilkay Gundogan
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Amid all the doom and gloom in Dortmund, it was good to see Ilkay Gundogan finally make his comeback from injury after 434 days out of action.
However, not even Gundogan's long-awaited comeback, as well as the return of fellow German international Marco Reus, could prevent Dortmund from sliding to another dismal defeat.
Winner: Free-Kick Spray
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The Bundesliga has a new star!
The free-kick spray was finally introduced in Germany at the weekend to much acclaim.
The spray is already in use in England, Spain and France and, of course, starred during the World Cup in Brazil.
Referees spray from a can onto the pitch, marking the distances players should stand at free-kicks. As if by magic, the foam vanishes after about a minute.
Welcome to Germany "Freekicksprayinho"!
Loser: Roman Weidenfeller
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Goalkeepers do make mistakes; that goes with the territory. Manuel Neuer, arguably the best in the world, even made one for Germany as the World Champions slipped to defeat in Poland.
Roman Weidenfeller's error cost struggling Dortmund the game against Cologne.
Weidenfeller's indecision allowed the ball through to Simon Zoller, who tapped into an empty net for the winning goal.
Aussie back-up goalkeeper Mitch Langerak may get another chance soon.
Winners: Paderborn
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Promoted Paderborn moved up to seventh in the table with a come-from-behind victory over Frankfurt.
Three second-half goals turned it around for the surprise early-season league leaders, who continue to punch above their weight in the Bundesliga under Andre Breitenreiter.
Winner: Son Heung-min
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South Korean star Son Heung-min scored twice inside the opening nine minutes as Bayer Leverkusen romped into the lead in Stuttgart.
Unfortunately for the "Prodigal Son," it was not enough as Leverkusen lackadaisically let a 3-0 lead slip away.
Losers: Bayer Leverkusen
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Results like this maybe explain why Bayer Leverkusen have been dubbed "Neverkusen."
Leverkusen threw away a 3-0 lead against struggling Stuttgart, snatching a 3-3 draw from the clutches of victory.
Winners: Mainz 05
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Jonas Hofmann opened the scoring for high-flying Mainz in a hard-fought 2-1 win over Augsburg.
Hofmann has fired three goals in six games for third-placed Mainz, who are now unbeaten in a club record eight games.
The 22-year-old forward is on loan at the Rheinhessen side from Borussia Dortmund.
A massive downer for Mainz (and Dortmund) was seeing the German U21 international hobble off on the hour mark with knee ligament damage.
Losers: Train Travellers
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Around 100,000 football fans were affected by a weekend train driver strike all across Germany, per Reuters.
Travel plans were plunged into chaos as fans had to make last-minute alternative arrangements or risk not attending their beloved club's games.
Deutsche Bahn (German Rail) had to cancel almost all of their special football trains due to the strike action.
However, Hertha's train from Berlin to Gelsenkirchen did leave the capital city. Interestingly, Hertha's main sponsor is Deutsche Bahn.
Winner: Roberto Di Matteo
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Roberto Di Matteo's first game in charge of Schalke 04 ended with a deserved 2-0 victory over lacklustre Hertha Berlin.
The former Chelsea boss replaced Jens Keller, who was fired prior to the international break after 22 months in charge.
The Royal Blues move up to ninth spot in the table with the win, four points clear of neighbours Borussia Dortmund.
Winner: Max Kruse
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Max Kruse notched a goal in each half for second-placed Borussia Monchengladbach in a 3-0 hammering of Hanover.
Kruse's brace took his tally to five goals in six games for "The Foals," and the forward has also reclaimed his spot in the Germany squad.
Gladbach remain unbeaten and are Bayern's nearest challengers ahead of the big Bundesliga clash between the top two next Sunday.
Winner: Daniel Caligiuri
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Daniel Caligiuri fired a goal in each half for Wolfsburg in a 2-1 away win in Freiburg.
Caligiuri broke his former club's hearts as the Wolves moved up to fourth spot with a third straight league success.
Losers: Werder Bremen
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It was no surprise Werder Bremen lost at league leaders Bayern Munich.
But subsiding to a 6-0 defeat must be unacceptable for the four-time Bundesliga champions, who didn't even manage to muster a shot on goal.
Bremen languish at the bottom of the league, having conceded a mammoth 22 goals in just eight games.
Winner: Mario Gotze
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Mario Gotze grabbed a goal in each half as Bayern handed Bremen a good hiding.
Germany's World Cup final hero is now the Bundesliga's top goalscorer with six in seven games.
Winner: Philipp Lahm
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Philipp Lahm made history by scoring two goals for the first time in a Bundesliga game—in his 321st appearance.
Bayern's skipper opened the scoring in the 20th minute and added another with 11 minutes to play in the 6-0 battering of Bremen.
Lahm can now boast 12 career Bundesliga goals.
Winner: Xabi Alonso
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Xabi Alonso opened his goalscoring account for Bayern, slotting home a first-half free-kick against a completely overwhelmed Bremen side.
"""Crafty! Xabi Alonso nets clever under the walk free-kick goal against Werder Bremen #xabialonso #bayernmunich https://t.co/L0kpYdfmpO
— GoalClips (@GoalClips) October 18, 2014"
Pep Guardiola took Alonso off with 30 minutes to play, wisely allowing his compatriot a well-deserved break ahead of trickier tasks ahead.
Find Mark Lovell on Twitter.
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