Two penalties after comparable incidents gave Bayer Leverkusen a 2-1 win over Bayern Munich on Sunday and threw the Bundesliga title race large open, with Borussia Dortmund ending the weekend on high.
Dortmund thrashed Cologne 6-1 on Saturday to take over on the summit however Bayern would have gone again to the highest with a degree forward of the highest two assembly in Munich of their subsequent sport on April 1. Instead Dortmund, final champions in 2012, lead by a degree.
Joshua Kimmich put Bayern forward in wet Leverkusen in opposition to the run of play within the first half. But Exequiel Palacios levelled from the spot on 55 minutes after a video overview confirmed Benjamin Pavard had felled Amine Adli – the ahead had initially been booked for diving.
Adli then went down beneath Dayot Upamecano’s sliding sort out and once more was proven yellow for simulation. But once more referee Tobias Stieler was known as to the monitor and reversed his choice, Argentina’s Palacios selecting the identical nook to make it 2-1 on 73.
Bayern captain Thomas Müller instructed DAZN: “I must say Leverkusen did very well, they were tricky to play against. We had lots of balls which we lost too quickly.
“Looking on the entire sport, the defeat is sadly deserved. We usually are not within the Bundesliga the place we needs to be.”
Bayern are gunning for their 11th straight Bundesliga title and only eight games will remain after April’s top-of-the-table clash, which follows the international break.
Union Berlin’s Rani Khedira earlier fired his side up to third after his first goal for the club helped secure a 2-0 home win over sixth-placed Eintracht Frankfurt.
Freiburg – in fifth – are at Mainz in the late match knowing a win would put them above fourth-placed RB Leipzig, who lost at Bochum on Saturday, and level on points with Union.
Leverkusen and Bayern are the only two German sides to make it through to the quarter-finals of European competition this season and their good recent form prompted an intriguing contest.
Eighth-placed Leverkusen, bossed by former Bayern midfielder Xabi Alonso, made a good start with a few half chances but were soon made to pay for their profligacy.
Kimmich struck his fourth league goal of the season via a deflection on 22 minutes following Leon Goretzka’s cutback. It was Bayern’s only shot on target in the first half
Bayern coach Julian Nagelsmann – who shuffled his pack significantly against Leverkusen – has lamented a “mole” who has leaked his tactical plans but said he believed it was not a player.
Leverkusen looked like they had read the plans given they bettered the visitors in almost all statistics and turned the game around with two strikingly similar penalty incidents.
The referee laughed and shook hands with Adli after having to rescind his second yellow card, but the Bayern hierarchy in the stands were stony-faced in contrast.
Bayern substitute Jamal Musiala fired just wide after showing off his silky skills at 1-1 and Bayern had a plethora of chances late on from the likes of Serge Gnabry and Matthijs de Ligt, but ended up with their third loss of the Bundesliga cmapaign.
Leverkusen’s Robert Andrich said: “We modified our matchplan a bit of bit. It gave us extra choices. We received a number of tackles.”
Dead-ball specialists Union, who’ve by no means been within the Champions League, struck within the second half when Khedira – captain for the day and being watched by brother Sami – stabbed in following a nook.
Kevin Behrens nutmegged Kevin Trapp to make it 2-0 on 75 minutes.
Source: www.anews.com.tr
