Bundesliga: Stellar Bayern blitz Schalke 4-0 to go equal top

Treble winners Bayern Munich demolished Schalke 04 4-0 with a stellar performance on Saturday to join Bundesliga leaders Borussia Dortmund at the top of the table after they drew 1-1 at Nuremberg.

Bayern's Bastian Schweinsteiger, back in the starting lineup after an ankle injury, drilled in a well-timed header in the 21st minute and Mario Mandzukic did exactly the same a minute later to silence the 61,000 Schalke crowd.

Franck Ribery sealed the win with a clever flick off a David Alaba cutback in the 75th minute before substitute Claudio Pizarro completed yet another dominant Bayern performance in the 84th, following their 3-0 midweek mauling of CSKA Moscow in the Champions League.

"This was our best game so far," Bayern coach Pep Guardiola told reporters. "We completely dominated one of Germany's strongest teams.

"We did it very well and I can only be satisfied and proud of this performance and my players," said the Spaniard, who fielded a different starting lineup for the ninth time in his 10 games in charge in all competitions.

What had started out as a fierce derby, with Schalke eager to give the treble winners a run for their money, turned into a Bavarian joyride at the start of the city's Oktoberfest.

Schalke's Kevin-Prince Boateng, who faced his brother Jerome in the Bayern defence, and Adam Szalai had early chances before Bayern sped away with the game, blitzing them with two quick goals to knock them down.

"We took the game very seriously from the first minute," Schweinsteiger said.

"We also knew of the results in the earlier games. At times we played very good football. We vary our game a lot and that makes it difficult to take the ball from us."

Bayern, who extended a club record unbeaten run to 31 games, are second, equal on 16 points with Dortmund, who hung on to top spot due to a better attack despite Nuremberg ending their five-game winning streak.

Schalke dropped to 12th after riding a wave of enthusiasm following their 3-0 midweek win over Steaua Bucharest in the Champions League.

"We had imagined this differently. 4-0 at home is a flop," said Schalke coach Jens Keller. "We started very well, had a good 20 opening minutes but then we got hit twice and never recovered after that."