Bayern Munich beats Freiburg and increases their lead in the Bundesliga
Bayern Munich consolidated their lead in the German league after winning in Freiburg (2-1) and benefiting from a draw by their pursuers Bayer Leverkusen in Leipzig (2-2), in games of the 19th round.
At the Europa-Park Stadion, English striker Harry Kane put the Bavarians in control of the match after 15 minutes, an advantage that was extended in the second half by South Korean centre-back Kim Min-Jae (54).
Freiburg pulled one back through Matthias Ginter (68), but this was still not enough to prevent the home side from losing for the third time in a row, in a game in which Portuguese Raphaël Guerreiro started for Bayern and was replaced in the second half by compatriot João Palhinha, who returned to the competition after two months out due to injury.
The team led by Belgian Vincent Kompany now leads the competition with 48 points, compared to 42 for second-placed Leverkusen and 36 for third-placed Eintracht Frankfurt, who still have one game of this round to play.
In Leipzig, Florian Wirtz set up Czech Patrik Schick (18) and Spaniard Aleix Garcia (36) to give the ‘pharmacists’ a comfortable first-half lead, but David Raum (41) closed the gap on the team that beat Sporting (2-1) in the Champions League midweek.
In the closing stages of the match, an own goal by former Vitória de Guimarães player Tapsoba (85) made it 2-2, the same scoreline as Borussia Dortmund-Werden Bremen.
Reduced to 10 men at Signal Iduna Park, after a straight red card to central defender Schlotterbeck (21 minutes), Dortmund even scored first, through Guinean Guirassy (28), and even managed to lead by two goals when Austrian Marco Friedl (51) was unlucky to score an own goal.
However, Bremen restored parity within a few minutes, precisely through two former Borussia players, Leonardo Bittencourt (65) and Marvin Ducksch (72), allowing Leipzig to occupy fifth place, with 32 points, the same as fourth-placed Stuttgart, defeated today at Mainz (2-0), in sixth.
Recovering positions in the table is Augsburg, after their third consecutive victory in the competition, this time at home to ‘struggling’ Heidenheim (2-1).
