Bayern Munich continue winning run in German Bundesliga

The German record champions sealed their 18th win of the season as they overcame Cologne 4-1 at the curtain raiser of the 23rd round of Bundesliga on Friday.

The Bundesliga front-runners celebrated the clubs 115th anniversary with a 4-1 win over Cologne extending their winning run to four games.

Bayern established a two-goal lead within 10 minutes before Cologne's Anthony Ujah reduced the arrears before the break out of nowhere. However, Bayern recovered after the restart to extend the lead with another two goals, Xinhua reported.

After beating Hamburg 8-0 and newly promoted Paderborn 6-1 in the last two games, Bayern overran Cologne with two quick goals in the first 10 minutes.

The "Bavarians" caught a bright start with just three minutes into the game when Bastian Schweinsteiger headed home a cross by Arjen Robben for the opener.

The spectators at the outsold Allianz Arena didn't had to wait long for the second goal of the evening as Franck Ribery doubled the lead from outside of the box into the bottom left corner at the 10th minute.

With the two-goal lead behind Bayern retracted and Cologne were able to recover from the goals. Cologne's Anthony Ujah reduced the arrears out of the blue when he nodded home a cross by Matthias Lehmann in the dying seconds of the first half.

After the restart, Bayern's goalkeeper Manuel Neuer had to make a couple of saves to deny the visitors the equaliser. Especially Ujah tested Neuer with a volley, which defused the German international with a diving save into the bottom right.

However, Bayern destroyed Cologne's comeback hopes when Arjen Robben made use of Ribery's lob at the far post at the 67th minute. Bayern's goalkeeper Neuer was again in the thick of things when he parried Daniel Halfar's shot on target moments later.

Bayern weren't done with the scoring as Robert Lewandowski put the result beyond doubt by making it 4-1 on the scoreboards in the 75th minute.

With the fourth straight win, Bayern Munich increase their advantage to nine points. Meanwhile, Cologne stays on the 13th place with 25 points.

The following games are scheduled for Saturday: Dortmund and Schalke encounter for the "Revierderby", Leverkusen host Freiburg, Hoffenheim face Mainz, Hannover see bottom side Stuttgart, Berlin meet Augsburg and Frankfurt clash Hamburg.