The Malta Independent on Sunday
Bayern leaves it late, stretches Bundesliga lead to 7 points
Bayern Munich left it late to beat Ingolstadt 2-0 and open a sevenpoint lead with its main rivals dropping points in the Bundesliga yesterday.
Second-placed Leipzig was beaten 3-0 at home by Hamburger SV, third-placed Eintracht Frankfurt was defeated by the same score to Bayer Leverkusen, and fourth-placed Borussia Dortmund lost 2-1 at bottom club Darmstadt.
Bayern, which hosts Arsenal in the Champions League on Wednesday, looked to be labouring toward its second straight league draw after an uninspiring performance before Arturo Vidal struck in the final minute and Arjen Robben added another in injury time.
With just one Bundesliga goal so far after scoring 32 in all competitions last season, Thomas Mueller’s disappointing season epitomises the club’s unexpected dip in form. But the Germany forward crossed for Vidal to score from close range, and Robben played a one-two with fellow substitute Douglas Costa to seal it.
Robert Lewandowski and Mueller had come closest for the side in the first half and Lewandowski struck the post in the second.
Ingolstadt remains second last.
LEIPZIG 0 HAMBURG 3
Leipzig slumped to its first defeat at home in the Bundesliga after an impressive performance from relegation-threatened
Bundesliga
Friday Hamburg.
The on-loan Kyriakos Papadopoulos, who claimed the winner against parent club Bayer Leverkusen last weekend, opened the scoring with a thumping header to a corner at Leipzig. Papadopoulos first joined Leipzig on loan from Leverkusen before switching to Hamburg in the winter transfer period.
Walace claimed the second from another corner from Nicolai Mueller in the 24th for the Brazilian’s first Bundesliga goal. Again, Papadopoulos was in the thick of the action.
Mueller set up Aaron Hunt to seal the victory in injury time as Hamburg left the relegation zone.
BAYER LEVERKUSEN 3 EIN. FRANKFURT 0
Sky TV reported before the game that Leverkusen’s board of directors had decided to fire Roger Schmidt regardless of today’s result, but the coach’s position will be strengthened after a comprehensive defeat of high-flying Frankfurt.
Javier ‘Chicharito’ Hernandez opened the scoring early with a volley after Kai Havertz eluded four Frankfurt defenders and the rebound from an attempted clearance fell kindly for the Mexico striker.
Another volley made it 2-0 after the hour-mark. Karim Bellarabi didn’t let Kevin Kampl’s cross touch the ground and neither did Chicharito for his second goal.
Substitute Kevin Volland sealed the win with a quarterhour remaining.
“That looked very much like our game,” Schmidt said.
DARMSTADT 2 BOR. DORTMUND 1
Dortmund has goalkeeper Roman Buerki to thank for preventing a heavier defeat.
Buerki saved from Terrence Boyd before Jan Rosenthal hit the post and he then stopped another effort from Marcel Heller, before Boyd fired the home side into a deserved 21st-minute lead when Heller pulled the ball past four stranded Dortmund defenders.
Marco Reus struck the crossbar with a free kick in response before Raphael Guerreiro equalized with a fine strike before the break.
Substitute Antonio-Mirko Colak restored Darmstadt’s lead with more than 20 minutes remaining and the home side might have scored more - Buerki pushed Colak’s strike onto the crossbar and saved from Rosenthal on the rebound.
“Darmstadt deserved to win,” Dortmund coach Thomas Tuchel said.
WERDER BREMEN 0 BOR. M’GLADBACH 1
Thorgan Hazard’s early strike through a counterattack set up by Christoph Kramer was enough for the visitors to climb ninth and leave Bremen in the relegation zone. Friday Napoli-Genoa ................................2-0 Yesterday Fiorentina-Udinese........................3-0 Today Tomorrow Juventus Napoli Roma Lazio Atalanta Inter Milan Fiorentina AC Milan Torino Sampdoria Udinese Chievo Bologna Cagliari Sassuolo Genoa Empoli Palermo Crotone Pescara PW D L F A Pts 23 19 0 4 47 16 57 24 15 6 3 57 26 51 23 16 2 5 48 21 50 23 13 4 6 41 27 43 23 13 3 7 36 25 42 23 13 3 7 37 24 42 24 11 7 6 41 33 40 23 12 4 7 33 27 40 23 8 8 7 40 33 32 23 8 6 9 26 29 30 24 8 5 11 27 32 29 23 8 5 10 22 30 29 23 7 6 10 22 34 27 23 8 3 12 32 48 27 23 8 3 12 32 37 27 24 6 7 11 27 35 25 23 5 7 11 14 31 22 23 3 5 15 19 42 14 23 3 4 16 20 40 13 23 1 6 16 19 50 9 Friday Yesterday Frosinone Verona Spal Benevento Cittadella Spezia Perugia Entella Bari Carpi Novara Salernitana Ascoli Avellino Cesena Brescia Pisa Vicenza Latina Pro Vercelli Ternana Trapani PW D L F A Pts 25 14 5 6 35 26 47 25 13 6 6 44 29 45 25 12 8 5 41 26 44 25 12 8 5 35 19 43 25 12 3 10 34 28 39 25 9 10 6 24 19 37 24 8 11 5 32 25 35 25 8 10 7 36 32 34 25 8 10 7 25 24 34 25 8 9 8 24 25 33 25 8 7 10 29 30 31 25 7 10 8 28 29 31 24 6 12 6 26 28 30 25 7 8 10 21 30 29 25 6 10 9 31 31 28 25 6 10 9 27 35 28 25 5 12 8 11 15 27 25 6 9 10 18 29 27 25 4 14 7 27 31 26 24 5 10 9 21 31 25 24 5 8 11 21 33 23 25 3 12 10 20 35 21 Tomorrow
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