Berlin, 4 February 2024 (dpa/MIA) - Bayer Leverkusen retained a two-point lead over Bayern Munich into their Bundesliga table topper next week, with Leverkusen winning 2-0 at bottom side Darmstadt and Bayern's 3-1 over Borussia Mönchengladbach 3-1 marking Thomas Müller's 500th career victory.

Nathan Tella scored a 33rd and 52nd minute brace as Leverkusen regrouped well from a 0-0 draw against Gladbach eight days ago and remain unbeaten in all competitions.

Gladbach led in Munich from Nico Elvedi in the 35th but the champions fought back from teenager Aleksandar Pavlovic in the 45th, league top scorer Harry Kane in the 70th and Matthijs de Ligt in the 86th.

Club icon Müller was involved in Bayern's first and second goals en route to becoming their first player to win 500 official games.

"I am not really a friend of these anniversaries but the team gave a shirt and celebrated me," Müller told Sky TV. "The best thing is the feeling of winning. I think we are also on a good path to win in Leverkusen."

The big game is next Saturday but Leverkusen first face another big test in a German Cup quarter-final on Tuesday against VfB Stuttgart who in third won 3-1 at 10-man regional rivals Freiburg.

The leaders had a hard time at first against a well-organized Darmstadt defence before Tella broke the deadlock in the 33rd when he headed home Alejandro Grimaldo's cross from the left at the far post.

Tella struck again seven minutes after the restart from a right angle, set up nicely by Germany player Florian Wirtz.

"We had a dominant performance and deserved to win," Leverkusen midfielder Granit Xhaka said.

He added in reference to the big games against Stuttgart and Bayern: "You want to play these games like next week as a player. It will be a week which can give an indication of how it will go [in the season].

In Munich, Thomas Tuchel was fit to coach on the sideline after a bout of flu. Newly signed Sacha Boey and Bryan Zaragoza were not among the starters but Boey came on in the second half.

Leroy Sane hit the crossbar in the fifth minute but Gladbach took a 35th-minute lead with the help of Bayern keeper Manuel Neuer whose pass to Müller was intercepted by Elvedi who then got the ball back and slotted into the bottom right corner.

The joy didn't last long though as Bayern were deservedly level from Pavlovic after being set up by Müller. Kane headed into the empty net in the 70th for his 24th goal after goalkeeper Moritz Nicolas had failed to reach a cross, under pressure from Müller. De Ligt wrapped up matters late with another header off Sane's free-kick.

"We kept calm after falling behind and showed a good reaction. It was an OK performance against a good opponent," Tuchel said.

Looking at the Leverkusen game, he added: "We must be at our best and we are ready for it. We have the chance to hand Leverkusen a first defeat and leapfrog them. They are playing an outstanding season but we are in their rear mirror."

Stuttgart had a dream start in Freiburg with two goals in the first seven minutes from Deniz Undav's 13th season goal and Chris Führich, and Freiburg's Merlin Röhl was sent off in the 18th minute for a reckless challenge Maximilian Mittelstädt.

The hosts pulled one back late in the half from Lukas Kübler but Mittelstädt's third in the 74th decided a game interrupted in both halfs when fans threw chocolate coins and other objects onto the pitch in ongoing protests against external investors for the German Football League.

Elsewhere, third-last Cologne ended a run of six games without victory 2-0 against sixth-placed Eintracht Frankfurt. Frankfurt loanee Faride Alidou and Jan Thielmann scored second half goals against Frankfurt who had Niels Nkounkou and Tuta send off.

Augsburg drew 1-1 at Bochum from Ermedin Demirović's stoppage-time penalty and Werder Bremen prevailed 1-0 at lowly Mainz from Marvin Duksch's second-minute winner.

Heidenheim held Borussia Dortmund 0-0 on Friday, and the Sunday fixtures are Wolfsburg v Hoffenheim and RB Leipzig v Union Berlin.

Photo: EPA