Five Bundesliga things you may have missed

Berlin - Bayern Munich opened up an eight-point lead at the top of the Bundesliga this weekend with a 1-0 win over Eintracht Frankfurt, as Borussia Dortmund sacked coach Peter Bosz after another surprise defeat.

Here are five things you may have missed from the 15th round of Bundesliga matches:

Nine games, nine titles

Despite retiring last season to work in Bayern's academy, third-choice 'keeper Tom Starke found himself in goal in Frankfurt after Sven Ulreich, injured Manuel Neuer's understudy since September, pulled a groin muscle in the warm-up.

Bayern registered Starke to play again in the Bundesliga after Neuer fractured his foot and the 36-year-old kept a clean sheet in his first league appearance back in Munich's goal.

It was only Starke's ninth Bundesliga appearance in five years at Bayern - yet he has won a staggering nine titles with the Bavarians.

He can claim an impressive tally of five Bundesliga titles, three German Cup titles, and the 2013 Champions League title.

Wolf's VAR reprieve

After Arturo Vidal scored what proved to be Bayern's first-half winner in Frankfurt, Eintracht midfielder Marius Wolf made Bundesliga history when his second-half red card was reversed.

The 22-year-old trudged to the dressing room after being shown a red card for his 72nd-minute tackle on James Rodriguez.

However, referee Harm Osmers eventually reversed his decision, instead showing Wolf a yellow card, after consulting the video assistant referee (VAR).

"I was already back in the dressing room with my shirt still on when our kit man dragged me to the pitch and the ref apologised to me," said a relieved Wolf.

It is the first time a red card in the Bundesliga was reversed due to an intervention by the VAR, which is being tested in Germany and Italy this season.

Hole in Werner's boot

However, there was no such VAR luck for Germany striker Timo Werner in second-placed RB Leipzig's 2-2 draw at home to Mainz.

With 90 minutes gone, Ivory Coast defender Jean-Philippe Gbamin trod on Werner's boot as the Leipzig striker tumbled to the turf in the area.

Despite consulting the VAR, referee Patrick Ittrich waved play on, although Werner later showed a hole in his boot from Gbamin's studs.

"It was a clear penalty," said Werner, who had converted a spot-kick just before the break, although replays showed Leipzig midfielder Diego Demme went down despite minimum contact from Mainz defender Leon Balogun.

Bartels blow

Werder Bremen's shock 2-1 win at Borussia Dortmund carried a heavy price for both teams.

Without a win in their last eight league games, Dortmund finally sacked Bosz as head coach on Sunday and replaced him with ex-Cologne boss Peter Stoeger.

But Bremen playmaker and forward Fin Bartels is out for the rest of the season after tearing his Achilles tendon when Dortmund defender Sokratis trod on his ankle in the first half.

"The injury put a dampener on the win; it was bitter for us, but wasn't intentional," said Bremen's director of sport Frank Baumann, whose club is 17th in the table and fighting relegation.

Aubameyang makes history

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang became the all-time top-scoring African in Bundesliga history in low-key fashion on Saturday.

The Gabon striker was eventually credited with his 12th goal of the season against Bremen.

Shinji Kagawa's second-half cross hit the arm of Bremen's Philipp Bargfrede, who was initially saddled with an own goal, and was scrambled into the net by Aubameyang.

However, the Bundesliga later awarded the goal to Aubameyang, who has now netted 97 times in Germany's top flight.

His tally beats the previous record of Ghana's Tony Yeboah, who scored 96 goals for Eintracht Frankfurt and Hamburg before retiring in 2002.