Younes leads Frankfurt to shock win over leaders Bayern

FRANKFURT: Eintracht Frankfurt midfielder Amin Younes scored a superb goal and helped to create another as his team beat Bundesliga leaders Bayern Munich 2-1 to stay on course for a Champions League spot.

Bayern remain on 49 points, with second-placed Leipzig, who have 44, in action at Hertha Berlin later.

Fourth-placed Frankfurt are level on 42 points with Wolfsburg, who are third and won 3-0 at Arminia Bielefeld on Friday.

Former Germany international Younes, on loan from Napoli, helped to set up Daichi Kamada for the first goal after 12 minutes as Frankfurt stretched their unbeaten run to 11 league games.

With Germany coach Joachim Loew watching in the stands ahead of international matches in March, Younes, who won the last of five Germany caps in 2017, thundered in a shot from the edge of the box in the 31st after taking on the entire Bayern defence.

“That was Younes’s best performance of the season,” Frankfurt coach Adi Huetter said.

“In the first half he was world class.”

The Bavarians, who won their sixth title in less than nine months with their Club World Cup triumph last week in Qatar, looked anything but fresh.

“We should not forget that we have had whirlwind weeks recently,” said Bayern coach Hansi Flick, whose team take on Lazio in the Champions League round of 16 next week.

In another match Borussia Dortmund whipped Schalke 4-0.

Earlier, Moenchengladbach’s European aspirations suffered a big blow with a 2-1 loss at Mainz 05 after Kevin Stoeger’s 86th-minute winner saw them drop to eighth place on 33.

It has been a difficult week for Gladbach after coach Marco Rose announced he would join Borussia Dortmund next season.