Bayern took revenge on Freiburg, who had knocked it out of the quarter-finals of the local cup competition by beating it 2-1 on Tuesday, while Borussia Dortmund returned to the winning streak after meeting Bayern’s fate in the cup by losing to defending champion Leipzig 0-2, and giving up the lead to Bayern in particular by losing to him. 2-4 in the last stage.
Bayern, who achieved its seventeenth victory this season, raised its score to 58 points, two points ahead of Dortmund, who inflicted the sixth loss on Union Berlin III, with 51 points. Freiburg’s balance froze at 47 points in fourth place.
-De Ligt saves Bayern-
The Bavaria giants, in their third match with their new coach Thomas Tuchel, who replaced Julian Nagelsmann, who was finally dismissed from his duties, have not tasted defeat since March 19 in the league (losing to Bayer Leverkusen 1-2).
Bayern prepared in the best way for its expected continental confrontation, after three days, in the English home of Manchester City, in the first leg of the quarter-finals of the Champions League.
Bayern’s squad missed French defender Daewoo Upamecano due to suspension, goalkeeper Manuel Neuer, Frenchman Lucas Hernandez and Cameroonian Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting for injury, and Tuchel pushed Senegalese strikers Sadio Mane and Serge Gnabry up front.
Bayern, who dominated the course of the first half but collided with an organized defense, missed two chances to open the scoring through Gnabry (9) and Mane (18), while Swiss goalkeeper Jan Sommer blocked a powerful shot from Freiburg’s Japanese midfielder Ritsu Doan (44).
At the beginning of the second half, Bayern needed the efforts of its Dutch defender Matthijs de Ligt, who followed up with a powerful shot with his left foot, a ball from 25 meters from Jamal Musiala, into the net of Dutch goalkeeper Mark Flicken (51).
De Ligt said, “We had several chances and we should have translated them better, but fortunately we did not concede any goals.”
– Dortmund back to winning ways –
Dortmund returned to victories after two successive losses in various competitions at the expense of the injured Union Berlin, which in turn was eliminated from the quarter-finals of the local cup, losing to Eintracht Frankfurt 0-2.
Onion Berlin also suffered its first loss since its 0-3 fall in Munich on February 26. Since then, he has achieved two draws (against Cologne and Wolfsburg) and two victories (against Frankfurt and Stuttgart), including 3 matches that did not concede, before losing this evening.
Dortmund coach Edin Terzic made 3 changes to his squad, which lost to Leipzig in the cup, so the ailing Marius Wolf was absent, and Marco Reus and the Turkish Salih Ozkan sat on the bench to include Englishman Jude Bellingham, Karim Adeyemi and Ivorian Sebastian Haller.
“It was a very important match for us,” Terzic told Sky Sports after his team’s victory. “It was close, but we deserved to win. In the end, all matches are close against Union Berlin, so we feel relieved that we managed to win.”
Dortmund opened the scoring after a pass from Portuguese Rafael Guerrero, followed by Dutchman Doniel Mallen with his right foot, past Danish goalkeeper Fredrik Ronov (28), in his fourth goal, including 3 in the last three stages, in the league this season.
Haller almost increased his team’s yield, but goalkeeper Ronov successfully blocked the two heads of the Ivory Coast striker (36 and 43).
Berlin equalized from a long ball that reached Kevin Burns, he passed it to the Dutchman Sheraldo Becker, who returned it to him to enter the area and hit the floor in the goal (61).
And Bernes raised the number of his goals to 7 in the “Bundesliga” this season.
– ‘Attacker instinct’ –
The young attacking substitute, Yousufa Mukoko (18 years), gifted the three points to Dortmund by scoring the second goal 5 minutes after he entered the field instead of Haller, taking advantage of a joint game with the other substitute, Royce, to bypass the goalkeeper inside the area and shoot into the empty goal (79).
Moukoko revealed after the match that coach Terzic told him, “When he intervened, he decided the fate of the match.”
“I could smell it, it was the attacker’s instinct,” he added.
In its race for a European seat, Bayer Leverkusen took sixth place from its guest, Eintracht Frankfurt, by beating it 3-1.
Leverkusen raised its tally to 43 points, compared to 41 for Frankfurt.
Cologne achieved its first victory since February by defeating Augsburg 3-1.
Scored for Tunisian international winner Ilyes Skhiri (7), Eric Martel and Linton Maina. And for the Swiss loser, Ruben Vargas (29).
Mainz drew 2-2 with Werder Bremen.
He will later play Hertha Berlin against Leipzig.
