Football news - Bayern Munich continue perfect start with dominant win over Schalke

Bayern Munich continued their perfect start to the Bundesliga season with a comfortable 2-0 away win over rivals Schalke.

Goals from James Rodriguez and Robert Lewandowski gave the visitors to the Veltins Arena the victory, leaving Schalke still searching for their first points of the new campaign and deepening the sense of crisis at the club.

The Bundesliga champions never had to shift out of second gear and took the lead after just nine minutes when James lost his marker to head home from a corner kick. From that point on, Bayern Munich were utterly dominant, barely having to break sweat.

Lewandowski made sure of the result from the penalty spot, converting after 65 minutes to give Bayern Munich a two-goal cushion. This was a concerning performance from Schalke, who appear to be suffering from some real problems early on this season.

Was Franco Di Santo’s dissent a sign of deeper problems at Schalke? Franco Di Santo was far from happy at being taken off by Domenico Tedesco in the second half. That was surprising given that the former Chelsea striker did next to nothing to influence the game when he was on the pitch. Di Santo then continued to express his view to the Schalke manager as he sat on the bench, with the two men exchanging angry tones. So was this the sign of deeper problems in the Schalke dressing room? Could that explain their dreadful start to the season?

Robert Lewandowski (Bayern Munich): Bayern Munich coasted through this game for the most part, but Lewandowski was the one driving them forward when they needed to. The Polish striker got his goal from the penalty spot in the second half, but his link up play was sharp and led the line well for the visitors to the Veltins Arena. You wouldn’t expect anything less from one of the best number nines in the European game right now.

Schalke: Fahrmann 6, Sane 5, Naldo 6, Nastasic 5, Caligiuri 5, Rudy 6, McKennie 6, Schopf 5, Embolo 5, Uth 5, Di Santo 4. Subs - Burgstaller 5, Harit 5, Bentaleb 5.

Bayern Munich: Neuer 5, Kimmich 6, Sule 6, Hummels 5, Alaba 7, Thiago 6, Goretzka 6, Muller 6, James 8, Ribery 6, Lewandowski 8. Subs - Sanches 5, Wagner 5, Gnabry 5.

9’ - GOAL! Schalke 0-1 Bayern. That goal has been coming and Bayern Munich have the lead! James gets ahead of his marker Rudy from the corner kick and the Colombian powers a header down into the ground and into the back of the net.

25’ - CLEAN THROUGH! Everyone stopped! They all thought that the Bayern Munich striker was offside, but the flag stayed down and Fahrmann made the save to deny him!

29’ - WHAT A STRIKE! Oh my word! That would have been one of the goals of the season. Alaba takes the freekick from about 30 yards out, it swerved and dipped and bounced off the top of the bar!

51’ - HOW DID HE MISS? That should have been the second goal for Bayern Munich. Ribery cut back the ball for James, who had an empty net to aim for... but he somehow manages to shoot wide!

63’ - PENALTY TO BAYERN! James goes down inside the box under the chalenge from Schopf.

65’ - GOAL! Schalke 0-2 Bayern. Fahrmann goes the right way, but the pace of the penalty kick from Lewandowski beats him. Bayern Munich have a two-goal cushion and the scoreline now reflects how comfortable they have been.

Ralf Fahrmann made his 114th successive start in the Bundesliga, the longest such run of any player in the division.

Manuel Neuer is now unbeaten in 14 Bundesliga games against Schalke.