Bayern floor Dortmund in Real warm-up
ROBERT LEWANDOWSKI overtook Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang in the race to be the Bundesliga’s top-scorer this season after netting twice in Bayern Munich’s 4-1 thrashing of Borussia Dortmund yesterday.
Runaway league leaders Bayern dominated the clash of Germany’s giants and the win leaves them 10 points clear with six games left as Munich edge closer to a fifth straight league title.
Lewandowski netted either side of half-time at the Allianz Arena to leave him with 26 league goals this season – one more than main rival Aubameyang who failed to find the net yesterday.
Veteran wingers Arjen Robben and Franck Ribery also netted in Bayern’s moraleboosting win before Wednesday’s crunch Champions League quarterfinal, first-leg, tie against Real Madrid.
Bayern took the lead after just four minutes when Thiago Alcantara’s deft pass found Philipp Lahm on the right for Bayern’s captain to fire in a cross and Ribery drilled his shot home.
The Bavarians doubled their lead on 10 minutes when Lewandowski launched a freekick from outside the area, but Dortmund’s Ousmane Dembele ducked to allow the ball to fly over the wall and hit the net.
In a frantic opening half, Dortmund pulled a goal back when Raphael Guerreiro unleashed a thunderbolt of a shot on 20 minutes as it stayed 2-1 at the break.
Robben extended their lead with a great shot off his left foot just after the break.
Lewandowski then added his second, and Bayern’s fourth goal, when he was brought down by Dortmund goalkeeper Roman Burki and converted the resulting penalty on 68 minutes.
The defeat leaves Dortmund, who host Monaco in the last eight of the Champions League tomorrow, fourth in the table and 18 points behind Bayern.
Earlier, Yussuf Poulsen’s goal deep in added time gave 10man RB Leipzig a 1-0 victory over Bayer Leverkusen.
Leipzig’s victory was a big step towards direct Champions League qualification next season and they are now seven points ahead of thirdplaced Hoffenheim, who crashed to a 2-1 defeat at Hamburg.
Wolfsburg, the 2009 champions, are just one point above the bottom three after a 4-1 hammering away to mid-table Schalke, for whom Guido Burgstaller netted twice.
Mainz are only outside the relegation places on goal difference after their 1-0 defeat at Freiburg, whose striker Nils Petersen scored the secondhalf winner off the bench.
The victory lifted Freiburg into the Europa League places in fifth above Cologne, who lost 3-2 at home to local rivals and fellow European hopefuls Borussia Moenchengladbach. – AFP of his hands if the European champions fail to deliver a major trophy this season. Zidane’s side lost their grip on the La Liga title race as Antoine Griezmann’s late equaliser handed Atletico Madrid a 1-1 draw at the Santiago Bernabeu. “You have to ask someone else about that, not me,” said Zidane in reference to president Florentino Perez when asked if he could survive without winning either La Liga or the Champions League. “I am the coach and I dedicate myself to coaching every day with strength and the desire that this shirt and this club demands,” added Zidane. “I can’t speculate about the rest.” Zidane has an excellent record since taking over at Real in January 2015. The Frenchman led Madrid to their 11th Champions League last season and has added the UEFA Super Cup and Club World Cup this season. However, Perez, who is expected to win a third consecutive election to remain as club president this summer, has a habit of sacking coaches despite previous successes. Zidane lamented missing the chance to take a huge step towards the title at the start of a huge two-week stretch that will end with Barca’s visit to the Bernabeu. “It is a draw but we’ve lost two points,” said Zidane. “Clearly we deserved all three points today.”
Just like Gareth Bale, Karim Benzema and Toni Kroos, Cristiano Ronaldo had been rested for the midweek win at Leganes. The Portugal forward, though, failed to make a telling impact as his first-half effort was headed off the line.
Ronaldo also set up Benzema with a cushioned header, but otherwise was not able to help open up the determined Atletico backline.
The 24-year-old Slovenian may not have been able to get anywhere near Pepe’s looping header which opened the scoring early in the second half, but without the acrobatics of Jan Oblak, Real would have been home and dry before Atletico’s late comeback.
Oblak twice denied Benzema with brilliant point-blank reaction blocks and provided a robust last line of defence whenever Real threatened in the final third.