Bayern stay hot on the heels of Bundesliga leaders
BERLIN: Bayern Munich cut Borussia Dortmund’s lead at the top of the Bundesliga to just two points on Saturday with a 2-1 victory at Mainz, thanks to Thiago Alcantara’s winning goal.
While goals by Leon Goretzka and Thiago sealed the three points for Bayern, Dortmund only had themselves to blame for conceding a 91st-minute penalty which Salomon Kalou converted in their 2-2 draw at home to Hertha Berlin.
England youngster Jadon Sancho scored twice and could have finished with four goals in an outstanding display for Dortmund, only for Kalou to snatch a point by converting the late penalty after his first-half strike.
Dortmund’s next home league match — against Bayern in a fortnight — is shaping up to be a topof-the-table clash.
Bayern have climbed from sixth to fourth and now to second over the last seven days, claiming three straight wins in the process, after ending a four-match winless streak.
“We certainly had to work hard for that and it certainly wasn’t as brilliant as we had hoped,” admitted Bayern head coach Niko Kovac. “We’re happy to have won our three games in a row, I think victory here was deserved and we hope this run continues.”
Werder Bremen can retake second spot from Bayern if they beat Bayer Leverkusen late yesterday.
Hoffenheim romped to a 4-0 home win against 10-man Stuttgart, who had defender Emiliano Insua sent off after just eight minutes for a dangerous foul on Pavel Kaderabek.
Having also been hammered 40 by Dortmund last weekend, this was Stuttgart’s second heavy defeat in seven days and left them joint-bottom with Fortuna Duesseldorf.
Elsewhere, Wolfsburg ended a seven-game winless run with a 30 romp at Duesseldorf while Augsburg stay in mid-table after their 2-1 win at Hanover. Borussia Moenchengladbach sit third after losing 3-1 at Freiburg on Friday.
• PARIS: Thierry Henry is still searching for his first victory as Monaco coach after the Ligue 1 strugglers drew 2-2 with Dijon on Saturday, while second-place Lille extended their winning run to four matches.
Henry, who took over from the sacked Leonardo Jardim earlier this month, needed a powerful header from centre-back Kamil Glik on 78 minutes to prevent Monaco crashing to a fifth straight league loss.
Germany full-back Benjamin Henrichs opened the scoring for Monaco on 30 minutes, but the 2017 French champions fell behind at home after Dijon responded with goals from Mickael Alphonse and Mehdi Abeid.
“It’s good we came back for the draw, but it’s not a win. I’m trying to stay positive. I have to stay positive when things are tough,” said Henry, who lost Nacer Chadli to injury in the warm-up.
The Belgium international added to a mounting casualty list at Monaco, with Henry forced to field his fourth-choice goalkeeper in the 1-1 Champions League draw at Club Brugge on Wednesday. Leading scorer Radamel Falcao hobbled off in Henry’s managerial debut last weekend, a 2-1 loss at Strasbourg.
“Yes, the situation is difficult. We’re speaking about guys who aren’t here. But I want to talk about those who are, they’re the ones on the pitch trying to get the team out of this,” he added.
Lille have surprisingly emerged as Paris Saint-Germain’s closest challengers.
Lille closed to within five points of PSG as Portuguese teenager Rafael Leao netted a 56th-minute winner in a 1-0 defeat of Caen on his first start for the club.