Franck Ribery scored once, set up two more and earned a penalty as Bayern Munich beat visiting Hertha Berlin 4-0 to extend its lead in the Bundesliga yesterday.

Ribery set up Mario Gomez to score in the fifth minute, made it 2-0 two minutes later, before sending Bastian Schweinsteiger through to score in the 13th.

The French winger was brought down by Roman Hubnik in the 68th, and Gomez dispatched the spot kick a minute later.

It was the 12th game in a row without conceding a goal for Bayern, which visits Napoli in the Champions League on Tuesday.

Second place Borussia Moenchengladbach fell five points behind after being held 2-2 at home by Bayer Leverkusen, with Andre Schuerrle scoring in the 87th minute for the visitors.

Promoted Augsburg won 1-0 at Mainz in its first Bundesliga win, when Jan-Ingwer Callsen-Bracker converted an 88th-minute penalty.

Elsewhere, it finished Stuttgart 2, Hoffenheim 0; and Wolfsburg 2, Nuremberg 1.

Hubnik prevented Ribery from scoring in the second minute with a goal-saving block after the Frenchman rounded former Bayern goalkeeper keeper Thomas Kraft.

Ribery was not deterred, running at the panic stricken Hertha defense before finding Gomez, whose low shot went in off the post.

Ribery got ahead of another former Bayern player, Christian Lell, to deflect Jerome Boateng’s cross past Kraft from close range, and the 28-year-old created more mayhem in the visiting defence before finding Schweinsteiger, who shot first time to the left of the unfortunate Kraft.

With Schweinsteiger dictating play from midfield, Ribery and Gomez might have scored more, and Thomas Mueller missed on open goal from four metres (yards) in the 35th.

Kraft’s reflex save denied Philipp Lahm after the break, and the Hertha goalkeeper did well to snatch the ball from the feet of Gomez.

After earning the penalty, Ribery let Gomez claim his 10th goal of the season.

Moenchengladbach will rue several missed chances against Leverkusen, which had defender Gonzalo Castro sent off for comments to the linesman in the 68th.

Stefan Reinartz scored for Leverkusen in the 20th, before Moenchengladbach’s Mike Hanke struck the crossbar in the 37th.

Marco Reus should have scored in the 55th, but Sven Bender got back to make the covering tackle, and Hanke missed an even better chance shortly afterward.

Reus finally scored in the 65th, when he rounded goalkeeper Bernd Leno before slotting into the unguarded net.

The home side took full advantage of Castro’s sending off when Patrick Herrmann saw Leno off his line and lobbed him from distance in the 72nd.

However, Schuerrle unleashed a dipping shot that gave Marc-Andre ter Stegen no chance, and Leno denied Reus from point blank in injury time.

In Stuttgart, Japan striker Shinji Okazaki controlled a Tamas Hajnal free kick with his left foot before scoring with his right in the 48th, and Pavel Pogrebnyak made the game safe when he earned a penalty and converted it in the 77th.

In Wolfsburg, Mario Mandzukic headed the home side ahead in the 24th, before Christian Eigler – who was making his return from injury - equalised in the 70th. Eigler injured himself in the process and appeared distraught to go off injured two minutes later.

Mandzukic sealed the win from the penalty spot in the 83rd.