Bayern held by 10-man Leverkusen
Bartra tributes as rattled Dortmund bounce back
BERLIN, April 15, (AFP): Borussia Dortmund players paid tribute to injured defender Marc Bartra as they beat Eintracht Frankfurt 3-1 on Saturday in their first Bundesliga match since the bomb attack on their team bus.
Germany winger Marco Reus scored on his return after six weeks out on an emotional afternoon for the club.
Sokratis Papastathopoulos and leading scorer Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang were also on target in a home victory which let Thomas Tuchel’s side to all but wrap up a topfour finish and boost morale at the end of a traumatic week.
“The players showed incredible character and deserve the best possible compliment,” said Tuchel.
Three bombs containing pieces of metal rocked the Dortmund bus on the way to Tuesday’s Champions League home quarter-final match against Monaco and left Spanish international Bartra hospitalised.
The first leg was eventually played on Wednesday but Dortmund lost 3-2, their players later admitting they were still shell-shocked by the attack.
The team was buoyed before kickoff on Saturday as Bartra was released from hospital following surgery on a broken wrist.
The Dortmund squad held his number five shirt aloft as they celebrated in front of their home fans after the final whistle.
“During the 90 minutes it was easier than on Wednesday,” said captain Marcel Schmelzer.
“We had a goosebump moment in front of our South Stand. We’re trying to talk a lot about it (the attack) in order to process it and I hope it will get better quickly.”
Reus, back from a hamstring injury, needed just three minutes to open the scoring in front of a sell-out crowd of 81,360 and a heavy police presence at Signal Iduna Park.
Frankfurt drew level on 29 minutes when Marco Fabian’s specula- tive shot hit the top-right corner, but Sokratis restored the hosts’ advantage before the break with a thunderous effort that barely deviated as it flew past Frankfurt goalkeeper Lukas Hradecky.
Aubameyang netted his 26th league goal this season late on to secure the points and make him the division’s joint top scorer alongside Bayern Munich’s Robert Lewandowski.
Runaway league leaders Bayern later endured a frustrating goalless draw at ten-man Bayer Leverkusen as they desperately missed top-scorer Robert Lewandowski, who was suspended.
Leverkusen had Tin Jedvaj sent off for the last 30 minutes, but Bayern could not break down the hosts’ defence despite 19 shots on goal -including having double saves off the line on two separate occasions.
Defenders Jedvaj and Omer Toprak cleared shots by David Alaba and Javi Martinez in rapid succession on 32 minutes.
Then Thomas Mueller and Arturo Vidal both had shots cleared on 52 minutes just before Jedjav’s dismissal for a second yellow.
With five minutes to go, Philipp Lahm rolled the ball just wide of the post to sum up Bayern’s fortunes.
Lewandowski will hopefully recover from a bruised shoulder for Tuesday’s Champions League quarter-final return at Real Madrid.
The Poland hot-shot missed last Wednesday’s 2-1 first-leg defeat with injury.
Second-placed RB Leipzig are now eight points behind Bayern after their 4-0 home thrashing of Freiburg.