A superb strike from Corentin Tolisso helped Bayern Munich cruise to a 4-0 victory over Freiburg on Sunday and a 20-point lead in the Bundesliga.
In the build-up to the game, Freiburg coach Christian Streich had emerged as a surprise candidate to succeed Jupp Heynckes at Bayern at the end of the season.
But Streich was no match for Heynckes on Sunday as Bayern cruised to victory and moved one step closer to the Bundesliga title.
“It is not just a great result, I think we played brilliantly today,” Heynckes told Sky. “It was one of our best performances of the season.”
Freiburg started brightly, and could have taken the lead on 12 minutes when Lucas Hoeler broke free of the defence and forced a smart save from Sven Ulreich.
Bayern, though, took the lead on 25 minutes when Thomas Mueller’s awkward prod bounced off goalkeeper Alexander Schwolow.
Their second came just three minutes later, Tolisso picking out the top corner with a brilliant strike from around 30 metres.
Sandro Wagner bundled the ball in from close range in the 55th minute, before Mueller made it four on 69 minutes, heading in a Joshua Kimmich corner at the near post.
At the other end of the table, goalkeeper Timo Horn was left blushing as his mistake helped Stuttgart to a 3-2 victory over Cologne.
Having scored early on, Cologne failed to hold a lead which would have lifted them off the bottom of the table for the first time since August.
Claudio Pizarro put Cologne ahead after just six minutes. Having won the ball in the final third, Yuya Osako set up the Peruvian, who swept the ball into the far corner.
It was the 39-year-old’s first goal since joining Cologne in September and extended his streak of scoring at least once in the Bundesliga in every calendar year since 1999.
Cologne, though, would go into half-time a goal down after two strikes in quick succession from Mario Gomez.
The veteran striker fired in an equaliser in the 45th minute, and was gifted a second moments later when Horn allowed a low shot to slip out of his hands and bounce over him into the net.
“I should have saved it, I am unbelievably sorry,” Horn told Sky. “It’s even more frustrating because the first half was the best 45 minutes we have played all season.”
Things got worse for Cologne on 57 minutes, when Andreas Beck squeezed a low shot past Horn to give Stuttgart a third.
Milos Jojic pulled a goal back with a fine free-kick three minutes from time, but it was too little, too late for Cologne.
AFP
