Ruthless Bayern Flick switch after Alario goal scare
Hansi Flick last night praised Bayern Munich’s will to win after they fought back from behind to move a step closer to their eighth straight Bundesliga title.
The champions suffered a setback away to Bayer Leverkusen yesterday when Lucas Alario fired home an early opener.
But the Munich men hit back to win 4-2 with goals from Kingsley Coman, Leon Goretzka, Serge Gnabry and Robert Lewandowski.
Flick’s side have now won 23 of the 26 matches since he took over and they need just two wins from their last four games to be crowned champs again.
He said: “We needed a bit of time to get into the game and the goal was a wake-up call.
“But the way we came back from a goal down shows the attitude and mentality of the team.”
With four games left to play in the interrupted season Bayern remain seven points ahead of Dortmund who beat Hertha 1- 0.
Bayern players wore ‘Black Lives Matter’ T-shirts and armbands in solidarity with the protests taking place throughout the world.
Leverkusen netted with their first sight of goal.
Alario fired home after 10 minutes, beating Manuel Neuer at his near post, with the goal surviving a VAR challenge for offside.
But Bayern quick ly bounced back and put their foot on the gas.
In 27 minutes Coman levelled with a curling shot after racing on to a brilliant pass from Goretzka.
That fired up the champs who sealed victory with two goals in three minutes.
First Goretzka fired home from the edge of the box in 42 minutes then Gnabry chipped over home keeper Lukas Hradecky on the stroke of half-time.
Top scorer Lewandowski headed in his 30th league goal of the season to seal Bayern’s ninth straight win.
The Poland striker has now netted a personal-best 44 goals in a season.
But teenager Florian Wirtz cut the deficit with his first goal for Leverkusen.
It doing so he became the youngest player to score in Bundesliga history at the age of 17 years and 34 days.