Lewandowski Rescues Bayern At Union, Dortmund Suffer ‘Disaster’

 

 

Robert Lewandowski marked his 200th Bundesliga appearance for Bayern Munich with a second-half equaliser in Saturday’s 1-1 draw at Union Berlin which keeps the defending champions top on goal difference.

After Grischa Proemel put Union ahead with four minutes gone, Lewandowski, the Bundesliga’s top-scorer, slotted his 13th goal in his 10th league game to rescue a point on 67 minutes.

Bayern have drawn their last two league games and Bayer Leverkusen can go top with a home win against Hoffenheim on Sunday.

The game in eastern Berlin was played behind closed doors, but Union fans fired a barrage of fireworks when the Bayern team bus arrived at the Alten Foersterei stadium.

Bayern goalkeeper Manuel Neuer pulled off a superb save after 52 seconds to deny Union’s Liverpool loanee Taiwo Awoniyi.

Proemel beat Neuer soon after when his deft header flew inside the far post.

Union kept up the pressure when Awoniyi fired just wide after wrong-footing both David Alaba and Jerome Boateng.

Moments later the VAR denied Bayern a penalty appeal when Lewandowski went down after a nudge in the area as it stayed 1-0 at half-time.

Bayern drew level when Kingsley Coman dribbled past two defenders and squared the ball for Lewandowski who slotted home.

Munich had a few late chances, but Union defended doggedly.

The result keeps Bayern top, level on 24 points with RB Leipzig, who briefly led the table after their 2-0 win over Werder Bremen earlier.

Union stay sixth, two points behind Dortmund who crashed to a 5-1 defeat against VfB Stuttgart.

Dortmund ‘disaster’

Dortmund coach Lucien Favre admitted the home defeat, their worst since 2009, was a “disaster” for their title ambitions.

Congo winger Silas Wamangituka netted twice in the romp which piled the pressure on Favre with fifth-placed Dortmund now five points behind Bayern and Leipzig.

“Things went mercilessly wrong,” admitted Dortmund defender Mats Hummels.

“We shot ourselves in the foot every few minutes.”

Dortmund have taken just a point in their two league games since star striker Erling Braut Haaland was ruled out until January with a hip injury.

Stuttgart’s relentless pressing and sloppy Dortmund defending resulted in the visitors scoring four unanswered second-half goals.

“We are not a team that can defend well, that has to be said quite clearly,” fumed Dortmund captain Marco Reus.

Wamangituka converted a first-half penalty after Dortmund’s Emre Can brought down Mateo Klimowicz.

Dortmund equalised when a superb Raphael Guerreiro long ball picked out Giovanni Reyna, who deftly chipped home.

It was 1-1 at the break, but the floodgates opened in the second period as nearly every Dortmund mistake was punished with a Stuttgart goal.

Wamangituka claimed his second goal eight minutes after the break, then Philip Foerster scored with a perfectly timed run into the area with an hour played.

A stray Dortmund pass was snapped up by Wamangituka and moved to striker Tanguy Coulibaly, who fired home on 63 minutes.

Reyna had a second goal ruled out by the VAR before Nicolas Gonzalez claim Stuttgart’s fifth goal in added time.

The debacle is Dortmund’s heaviest home defeat since being humbled 5-1 at home to Bayern Munich in 2009.

Leipzig down Bremen

Fresh from knocking Manchester United out of the Champions League in midweek, RB Leipzig beat Bremen 2-0.

Leipzig captain Marcel Sabitzer converted a penalty and Dani Olmo grabbed a first-half goal for the hosts.

The home win capped a good week for Leipzig whose 3-2 defeat of United on Tuesday helped them into the last 16 in Europe.

Arsenal loanee Matteo Guendouzi scored his first goal for Hertha Berlin in their 1-1 draw at Borussia Moenchengladbach, who equalised through Breel Embolo.

Freiburg ended their nine-match winless run with a 2-0 win over Arminia Bielefeld.

Cologne stay just above the relegation places after their 1-0 win at second-from-bottom Mainz.

AFP