Lewandowski’s late strike seals Bayern’s win

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 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.”

It was Franck Ribery’s cross which led to Lewandowski’s winner and the Poland international showed a worldclass 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. — AFP