Berlin, Oct 22, 2022 (AFP) – Bayern Munich climbed to within one point off Bundesliga leaders Union Berlin after a comfortable 2-0 win at Hoffenheim on Saturday.
Bayern took the lead in the 17th minute when 19-year-old Jamal Musiala sidefooted in a corner from Joshua Kimmich while unmarked at the far post.
Bayern striker Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting then doubled the visitors’ lead after 38 minutes, racking up his fourth goal in three games.
Bayern coach Julian Nagelsmann, who returned to the site of his coaching debut at the age of just 28, credited the maturity of his players.
“I’m very happy with the performance. We could have had five goals in the first 35 minutes,” Nagelsmann told SID.
“It was a very confident and grown-up performance.”
Hoffenheim ‘keeper Oliver Baumann said he was proud of his team’s efforts against an in-form Munich, saying “it doesn’t feel like a loss at all.”
In Saturday’s late game, Eintracht Frankfurt elbowed Dortmund out of fourth spot with a dominant 3-1 win away at Borussia Monchengladbach.
Two first-half goals from Danish midfielder Jesper Lindstrom bookended a strike from Paris loanee Eric Junior Dina Ebimbe, giving Frankfurt their sixth win in their past eight games.
Gladbach’s Marcus Thuram scored in the 72nd minute to kick-start a comeback, but a bizarre spider cam malfunction forced the players off the pitch for 10 minutes, sucking the remaining momentum out of the home side.
Lindstrom said his side was playing so well that even some of the more difficult things in football became easy.
“We scored with our first chance – and with our second chance as well” Lindstrom told Sky.
“When you score goals like that, you drag the opponent down. Football can be as simple as that.”
Elsewhere, Borussia Dortmund thrashed a dishevelled Stuttgart 5-0, with English teenager Jude Bellingham netting a brace.
Dortmund, who had only scored 13 goals in 10 Bundesliga games this season, grabbed the lead after just two minutes when Bellingham guided in a cross from former Bayern centre-back Niklas Sule.
Sule got on the scoresheet just 10 minutes later, cracking in a cross from midfielder Julian Brandt.
American teenager Gio Reyna added another late in the first half before Bellingham scored a superb solo goal in the 53rd minute to put the result beyond doubt.
Seventeen-year-old Youssoufa Moukoko scored his fourth of the season, tapping in a skidding cross from Raphael Guerreiro in the 72nd minute.
Manager Edin Terzic said the whole side could be credited with the goals, not just those on the scoresheet.
“These were team goals. We won the balls and combined well as a team,” he said.
Brandt said the win was “the best reaction to criticism.”
Bayer Leverkusen’s luckless start under Xabi Alonso continued at home against Wolfsburg, with the side fighting out a 2-2 draw.
Leverkusen’s Moussa Diaby missed a penalty after just 11 minutes when he pushed a limp shot just wide of goal. Remarkably, Leverkusen have now failed to score from the spot this season despite being awarded six penalties in 11 games.
Diaby put Leverkusen in the lead just two minutes later before conceding a looping own goal from German midfielder Robert Andrich.
Leverkusen then conceded a highly contentious penalty for what looked like a foul committed by Wolfsburg attacker Lukas Nmecha, with captain Max Arnold converting from the spot.
The home side equalized late through Jeremie Frimpong but sit in 14th place with just two wins from 11 games.
In Augsburg, Leipzig fought back from 3-0 down to draw 3-3 after the home side was reduced to 10 men.
Goals from Mergim Berisha, Ermedin Demirovic, and Ruben Vargas put the home side in a dominant position before a red card to Iago in the 65th minute brought Leipzig back into the game.
Leipzig scored three goals in 18 minutes through Andre Silva, Christopher Nkunku, and Hugo Novoa to equalize ahead of Tuesday’s crucial home clash with Real Madrid in the Champions League.
Freiburg rebounded after last week’s demolition by Bayern, scoring two second-half goals to reclaim third spot after a 2-0 victory over Werder Bremen.
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