BONN. Apr 3: Ba yern Munich strode towards a record 13th German Bundesliga title on Saturday.

beating Cologne K0 at home while nearest challengers Eintracht Frankfurt lost by the same score at bottom-of-the-table Lelpzeg. reports Reuter

But it was a result Munich scarcely deserved against an Imaginative and aggressive Cologne side whose finishing let them down.

Il was left to Colombian striker Adolfo Valencia to pro duce Bayern's one moment of brilliance — picking up a 30 metre through pass from de fender Christian Zlege in the 67th minute, running the length of the Cologne half and keeping his aool to beat national keeper Bodo lllgner from 14 metres

The result gave Bayern a comfortable four-point cushion ahead of Frankfurt at the top

Frankfurt were left to rue the absence of their talis-

manic striker Anthony Yeboah. kept back at the last minute by the Ghanaian national side to play in their African Nation s Cup quarter-final against Ivory Coast In Tunisia.

A 29th-minute goal from striker Juergen Ri sc he was enough to give Lelpzeg their first victory in 14 matches

I've been warning them all week that the match in Lelpzeg would be tougher than going to Munich." Frankfurt trainer Klaus Toppmoeller commented ruefully.

■Now we look like the na tion's idiots after losing to Lelpzeg. who hadn t managed to win a match for so long

Franz Beckenbauer, who has galvanised Munich since taking over as coach during the win ter break but has little time for euphoria, sounded almost as disappointed as Toppmoeller

• "We've got a long way to go to the championship If we keep playing like we did today ’ he said.

Reigning champions Wer der Bremen briefly looked like

boosting their shattered morale after Wednesday's 5-0 European Champions' league home defeat to Porto, going ahead with a Mario Basler goal after 31 minutes at Borussia Dortmund.

But Doftmund's Swiss striker Stephane Chapuisat sank Bremen with an amazing 15-mlnute hat-trick between the 57th and 72nd minutes which took his season s goal tally to 16.

Marco Bode narrowed the deficit to 3-2 with a consola tlon goal for Bremen in the 81st minute

Bayer Leverkusen, briefly Bundesliga leaders over the Winter break, restored their hopes of a UEFA Cup place next season with a 3-1 win over close rivals Karlsruhe.

The result took Bayer Leverkusen into third place on 32 points, one behind Ein tracht and one ahead of five following teams — Kaiser slautern. Karlsruhe. Hamburg. Dortmund and Duisburg. Ba yern Munich, on top. have 37.