Ivory Coast set for Renard showdown
BERLIN: Robert Lewandowski’s 91st- minute strike snatched victory for Bayern Munich in their 2- 1 comeback win at Freiburg in sub- zero temperatures on Friday ( Saturday in Manila) as the Bundesliga resumed after the winter break.
Lewandowski, last season’s top scorer in Germany, showed his class with two superb strikes at Freiburg’s sold- out Schwarzwald Stadion.
Having volleyed Bayern level in the first- half, to cancel out Freiburg’s shock early lead, the Poland hot- shot chested the ball down, flicked it off his left foot and fired home the winner off his right.
The victory leaves Bayern six points clear of second- placed RB Leipzig, who host Eintracht Frankfurt on Saturday.
“It was a hard game, we didn’t have so many chances, so we have to be happy with the three points,” Lewandowski told broadcaster ARD.
“We had a bit of luck. We were a bit slow at the back, we tried everything and they defended well.
“You have to be patient in games like that and I am just glad we got the win. It’s not easy to play in temperatures like that.”
Bayern coach Carlo Ancelotti was impressed with his team’s character, not their performance.
“We played a good opponent, who invested a lot, but we simply didn’t play well,” said the Italian.
“What I did like was the will and the character the team showed, but we can’t be happy with the way we played, only with the result.”
Freiburg, who stunned Bayern with a shock 2- 1 defeat when the sides last met at the Schwarzwald Stadion in May 2015, took an early lead on four minutes.
“Bayern had a lot of chances, but I am not annoyed,” said Freiburg coach Christian Streich, with his team eighth.
“We have to pick up our points against other teams, the boys did well and very little wrong.”
The thermometer showed minus six degrees Celsius ( 21.2 Fahrenheit) in the stadium, but we were defeated last season. but Freiburg was on fire in the opening exchanges.
Bayern defender Mats Hummels’ mis- hit clearance fell to Freiburg’s Italian Vincenzo Grifo, who played Janik Haberer into the area.
The attacking midfielder produced a stunning finish to beat Bayern’s Germany goalkeeper Manuel Neuer as his shot flew into the far corner.
Freiburg enjoyed a string of half chances as Bayern looked far from sure of themselves.
The Bavarian giants, who are chasing their fifth straight German league title, drew level when Lewandowski showed his class.
Having been denied at close range when Freiburg captain Mike Frantz blocked his shot on 35 minutes, Lewandowski was not to be denied.
He volleyed home home the resulting corner from Douglas Costa as Bayern went into the break at 1- 1.
Nevertheless, Bayern stars Thomas Mueller and captain Philipp Lahm trudged off clearly unhappy.
Things did not improve for Bayern in the second- half as Freiburg defended doggedly and tried to catch the guests on the break.
Bayern’s Costa was booked just three minutes after the interval for bringing down Freiburg’s midfielder Maximilian Philipp.
Ancelotti brought on Franck Ribery and Juan Bernat to inject some pace on the flanks for the final 20 minutes.
There were some nervous looks in the Bayern defence on 74 minutes when Haberer went down in the tackle after Hummels’ challenge.
But referee Manuel Graefe spotted the goal-scorer had gone to ground and booked Haberer.
It was Ribery’s cross which led to Lewandowski’s winner and the Poland international showed a world- class finish for his 14th league goal of the season to deny mid- table Freiburg a point.
He is still two goals behind Borussia Dortmund’s PierreEmerick Aubameyang, the league’s top scorer, who has 16 so far this season.
Reigning champions the Ivory Coast will need to beat the Morocco of their former coach Herve Renard to qualify for the Africa Cup of Nations quarter many games on Friday (Saturday in Manila).
The Ivorians had to come from behind twice to draw 2-2 with DR Congo in Oyem in the day’s early game with Wilfried Bony and Geoffrey Serey Die getting their goals.
Later, Renard’s Morocco came from behind to defeat Togo 3-1 at the same venue with Aziz Bouhaddouz, Romain Saiss and Youssef En- nesyri netting after Mathieu Dossevi had opened the scoring.
DR Congo are top of Group C with four points and know a draw with Togo in their last game in PortGentil on Tuesday will take them
Meanwhile, the Ivory Coast trail Morocco by a point and so has no choice but to win when the teams clash in their last match.
“We still have our destiny in our own hands, that is the important thing,” said Ivory Coast coach Michel Dussuyer, a Frenchman like his predecessor Renard.
“Everything will be decided in
The Leopards of DR Congo took an early lead when Neeskens Kebano slammed home, but Bony rose to head in the equalizer.
The Congolese were back in front before the half- hour mark as Junior Kabananga, who plays his club football in Kazakhstan, headed home at the back post.
2-2 in the second half and the Elephants could have won it late on, but Salomon Kalou’s stoppagetime effort was disallowed for a marginal offside call.
“I’d like to reassure everyone, there is no need to worry. In 2015 we started like that and ended up as champions,” said Serge Aurier, part of the side under Renard Equatorial Guinea before going on to win the trophy.
Set-piece double
Friday’s late game saw Renard come up against his coaching mentor, current Togo boss Claude Le Roy, as Morocco sought to breathe life into their campaign after an opening defeat to DR Congo.
The evening did not start well in front of another sparse crowd as
However, Morocco had turned things around before the midway goals from set-pieces.
First Togo ‘keeper Kossi Agassa came and missed a corner and St Pauli forward Bouhaddouz headed in at the back post. Then Faycal Fajr whipped in a free-kick from Saiss, who plays his club football in England, headed home.
With Le Roy’s side forced to push men forward as they chased the game, Morocco put the outcome beyond doubt in the 72nd minute.
Not long on from the bench, Malaga’s En-nesyri tried his luck on his left foot from 25 yards and the ball bounced in front of Agassa on its way in as Morocco secured the most convincing win of the tournament so far.
“Honestly the first match was much better but sometimes in the African Cup you need to get down to work and be solid,” said Renard, kitted out in his trademark white shirt.
Of the prospect of a showdown with the Ivorians, he added: “We knew when the draw was made that it would be a decisive match. It will be the hardest game of the three.”
On Saturday, 2015 runners-up Ghana will become the second team to secure their place in the last eight after Senegal if they beat Mali in Port-Gentil in Group D.
Later, record seven-time champions Egypt meet Uganda, for whom a defeat will mean certain group-stage elimination in their - ment in 39 years.