Bayern Munich's David Alaba (R) breaks through the defense from Hoffenheim's Pavel Kaderabek during the German Bundesliga match between Bayern Munich and TSG 1899 Hoffenheim, in Munich, Germany, on Jan. 27, 2018. Bayern Munich won 5-2. (Xinhua/Philippe Ruiz)
BERLIN, Jan. 27 (Xinhua) -- Bayern Munich came from behind to crush Hoffenheim 5-2 in the 20th round of the Bundesliga action on Saturday.
The league front-runners have had their ninth straight victory in all competitions after bouncing back from two goals down to Hoffenheim.
The visitors grabbed a perfect start against the German champions as Mark Uth slotted home his 10th goal of the season after capitalizing on a rebound from Bayern goalkeeper Sven Ulreich, who blocked Serge Gnabry's penalty with just three minutes into the game.
Gnabry remained in the thick of things as he doubled the lead nine minutes later with a 25-meter effort to make up his squandered penalty.
The titleholders needed some time to recover from the double setbacks. Bayern's top striker Robert Lewandowski deflected home Joshua Kimmich's shot on target to reduce the arrears with 20 minutes played.
Bayern remained on the front foot and levelled the scores five minutes later as Jerome Boateng headed home Arjen Robben's corner kick.
After the restart, the "Bavarians" kept things firmly in their hands as Kingsley Coman benefitted on Lewandowski's build-up work to secure a 3-2 lead in the 63rd minute.
The hosts gained momentum and added another goal three minutes later after Arturo Vidal headed Robben's corner to the far corner.
Bayern retracted but were not done with the scoring as Rafinha's square pass found former Hoffenheim player Sandro Wagner, who showed no mercy to wrap up the 5-2 victory in the dying minutes of the game.
With the result, Bayern recorded their 16th win of the season and maintain their 16-point advantage at the top of the standings while Hoffenheim suffered their second straight loss to stay ninth.
Elsewhere, Schalke recaptured second place on the table after beating newly promoted and struggling side Stuttgart on the first-half goals from Naldo and Amine Harit.
Dortmund avoided a defeat against midtable team Freiburg as Jeremy Toljan secured the "BVB" a last-gasp two-all draw on home soil.
Struggling Hamburg snatched a 1-1 draw at Leipzig after Filip Kostic's cancelled out Bruma's early opener.
Augsburg stopped the "Billy Goats" winning run as Caiuby's equalizer allowed the "Fuggerstaedter" to hijack one point from Cologne. Werder Bremen and Hertha Berlin had a goalless draw.
The following fixtures complete the 20th round on Sunday: Bayer Leverkusen host Mainz and newly promoted Hannover encounter Wolfsburg.
