Red-hot Lewandowski fires Bayern Munich past Schalke

Robert Lewandowski and Joshua Kimmich struck late goals in Bayern Munich’s 2-0 win at Schalke in the Bundesliga on Friday as teenage Portugal star Renato Sanches made his debut for the Bavarian giants.Dutch forward Klaas-Jan Huntelaar rattled the crossbar for Schalke early in the second half as the hosts frustrated the reigning champions for much of the evening in Gelsenkirchen.But Lewandowski struck his fourth goal in two games nine minutes from the end to put Bayern ahead, before setting up Kimmich in stoppage time to wrap up a second victory in as many matches for Carlo Ancelotti’s side.The Italian handed Sanches, 19, his first Bayern start following his return to fitness from a thigh injury initially sustained during Portugal’s triumphant Euro 2016 campaign. Schalke coach Markus Weinzierl introduced two new faces of his own by fielding Ukrainian winger Yevhen Konoplyanka and Algeria midfielder Nabil Bentaleb after both joined the Royal Blues on loan last month.Lewandowski scored a hat-trick in Bayern’s 6-0 demolition of Werder Bremen on the season-opening weekend, and the Poland striker missed an opportunity to add to his haul when he dragged wide from a Thomas Mueller cutback on 24 minutes.But Schalke, beaten 1-0 by Eintracht Frankfurt a fortnight ago, showed plenty of promise and Manuel Neuer and David Alaba combined to deny Huntelaar shortly before the break after Konoplyanka skipped past Mats Hummels.The Netherlands international went even closer on 56 minutes when Neuer produced a superb fingertip save to tip Huntelaar’s thunderous long-range effort onto the woodwork.Lewandowski should have broken the deadlock on 73 minutes when Alaba’s cross evaded Mueller, with last year’s leading scorer then somehow spooning the ball over from point-blank range. But he soon atoned for that glaring miss, taking Javi Martinez’s through ball in his stride and rifling a clinical finish beyond Ralf Fahrmann to end Schalke’s resistance.With the hosts pressing for an equaliser, Bayern hit Schalke on the counterattack in the dying stages and Lewandowski played in Kimmich to tuck away his first goal in the German top flight.Yesterday, substitute Joel Pohjanpalo scored a stunning second-half hat-trick as Bayer Leverkusen roared back to beat Hamburg 3-1, while Borussia Moenchengladbach slumped to defeat at promoted Freiburg.US international Bobby Wood gave Hamburg the lead just before the hour at the BayArena, but the introduction of Finland striker Pohjanpalo on 72 minutes swung the game dramatically in the home side’s favour.The 21-year-old, who scored on his Bundesliga debut last month, equalised for Leverkusen within seven minutes of his arrival, but was far from done as he netted twice more in stoppage time to hand Roger Schmidt’s side their first points of the season.Leverkusen begin their Champions League adventure when they host CSKA Moscow in the opening round of group stage matches next midweek, but Gladbach will have to recover quickly ahead of their trip to Manchester City after losing 3-1 at Freiburg.Thorgan Hazard, the younger brother of Chelsea star Eden, fired the visitors ahead 10 minutes before half-time, but two goals from Freiburg midfielder Maximilian Philipp turned the game on its head before Nils Petersen added a late third for Freiburg from the penalty spot.Wolfsburg laboured to a 0-0 draw at home to Cologne, who were playing without injured goalkeeper Timo Horn, while Hertha Berlin picked up a second straight win as they defeated Ingolstadt through goals from Vedad Ibisevic and Julian Schieber.Sandro Sirigu grabbed last-minute winner for Darmstadt in a 1-0 home victory over Eintracht Frankfurt, while Borussia Dortmund head to RB Leipzig in Saturday’s late game.Bundesliga resultsBayer Leverkusen 3 (Pohjanpalo 79, 90+1, 90+4) Hamburg 1 (Wood 58)VfL Wolfsburg 0 Cologne 0Ingolstadt 0 Hertha Berlin 2 (Ibisevic 8, Schieber 86)Darmstadt 98 1 (Sirigu 90) Eintracht Frankfurt 0Freiburg 3 (Philipp 54, 85, Petersen 88-pen) Borussia Moenchengladbach 1 (T. Hazard 35)Schalke 0 Bayern Munich 2 (Lewandowski 81, Kimmich 90+2)