Bayern Beat Frankfurt While Dortmund Keep Pace

Bayern Munich refused to give up ground in the Bundesliga title race after surviving a second-half comeback to beat Eintracht Frankfurt 5-2.

Earlier, the substitute Jadon Sancho helped Borussia Dortmund pressure the leaders with a 2-0 win at Wolfsburg. Dortmund now host Bayern on Tuesday and can cut their lead to one point, while Hansi Flick’s side chase an eighth successive championship, with victory in der Klassiker.

Goals from Leon Goretzka, Thomas Müller, Robert Lewandowski and Alphonso Davies did the damage for Bayern, along with a Martin Hinteregger own goal. But lax defending from set pieces allowed Hinteregger to score twice for Frankfurt in the space of four second-half minutes that

wanted to dominate and we did that,” Flick said. “At 3-0 maybe we were mentally already done with the game. Against Dortmund we want to keep a clean sheet.”

The opener came in the 17th minute as Müller was set free down the left who then found Goretzka, arriving in the box to easily beat Kevin Trapp. Bayern maintained pressure but had to wait until the 41st minute to double their lead. Davies had space on the left and found Müller, who tucked it away well, with the goal allowed to stand after a VAR check.

Lewandowski then scored his 42nd goal of the season just 45 seconds after the restart. The Poland striker powered home a header from Kingsley Coman’s cross to put his side three up.

But Bayern’s vulnerability from corners was highlighted twice in the space of four minutes as Hinteregger hauled his side into contention. First, the defender converted at the second attempt after he was inexpli and Hinteregger then sent in an unmarked glancing header.

But just after the hour, Bayern calmed game off with an own-goal after getting his feet tangled under pressure from Serge Gnabry. Dortmund will hope to have Mats ing with Bayern after the defender went off injured in their comfortable win. The former Bayern centre-back Hummels was replaced by Emre Can at half-time.

Michael Zorc, the sporting director, said on Dortmund’s website: “It was a deserved break, we had a slight phase of weakness. Maybe we had to reorganise ourselves after Hummels’ exit. He has had problems with the achilles tendon for some time, but we hope that he can play again on Tuesday.”

Raphaël Guerreiro put Dortmund in front in the 32nd minute before Sancho, who is still being used sparingly after a groin strain, launched a lightning counterattack side’s second goal in the 78th minute. The dismissal for a foul on Manuel Akanji ended any hopes of a comeback.

Borussia Mönchengladbach slipped to fourth with a 3-1 home defeat by Bayer Leverkusen. Kai Havertz scored a double for the second match in the row to lead Bayer Leverkusen to a 3-1 win at Mönchengladbach as they leap-frogged their opponents.

seventh minute and, although Marcus Thuram levelled in the 52nd minute, the 20-year-old struck again from a penalty six minutes later. Sven Bender headed in a third from a free-kick in the 81st minute to leave Leverkusen third with 53 points, one ahead of Gladbach, who dropped to fourth. (The Guardian)