|
Borussia Moenchengladbach’s 1-1 draw at home to Mainz 05 yesterday meant defending champions Bayern Munich finished the weekend four points clear in the Bundesliga. |
An early strike by Germany squad member Max Kruse for ‘Gladbach at Borussia Park was cancelled out by a dubious first-half penalty, converted by midfielder Jonas Hofmann.
Referee Manuel Graefe awarded Mainz a spot-kick after the ball clipped the hand of Borussia defender Julian Korb from a cross and Hofmann, who is on loan from Borussia Dortmund, converted the penalty.
Hosts ‘Gladbach were denied a late winner by a goal-mouth scramble and the single point left them third, missing out on the chance to reclaim second place from Hoffenheim, who beat Schalke 04 2-1 yesterday.
The result in Moenchengladbach means Pep Guardiola’s Bayern now have a significant lead over the chasing pack after their 4-0 romp over Hanover 96 on Saturday at Munich’s Allianz Arena.
Striker Robert Lewandowski and Arjen Robben both netted twice and Bayern dominated despite having Thomas Mueller and World Cup winner Mario Goetze on the bench, plus Germany star Bastian Schweinsteiger injured.
Pep Guardiola’s high-flying Bayern have now gone seven games without conceding a goal. In contrast, Borussia Dortmund’s dramatic domestic slump continued as they dropped to 13th in the table after their 1-0 defeat at home to Hamburg and are winless in their last four league games.
Along with Schalke and Bayer Leverkusen, Dortmund suffered a Champions League hangover and were a shadow of Wednesday’s impressive 3-0 win at Anderlecht as Hamburg enjoyed only their first victory of the season. This was Hamburg’s fourth win over Dortmund in their last five meetings to leave Klopp’s side two points above the relegation zone as Pierre-Michel Lasogga’s 35th-minute goal proved to be the winner.
Ten-man Schalke also suffered an afternoon to forget after drawing 1-1 with Maribor in the Champions League on Wednesday as they went down 2-1 at Hoffenheim, who moved up to second in the table.
Schalke finished with 10 men after Cameroon’s Joel Matip was shown a second yellow and subsequent red before Klaas-Jan Huntelaar scored a late consolation goal.
Bayer Leverkusen dropped to fourth after drawing 2-2 at home to ten-man Paderborn.
Frankfurt moved up to fifth with a 3-2 comeback win at home to Cologne as captain Alexander Maier scored twice before an own goal by Cologne goalkeeper Timo Horn sealed the win which leaves Eintracht unbeaten in their last four games. Werder Bremen took Hamburg’s place at the bottom of the Bundesliga in 18th place after being held to a 1-1 draw at home to Freiburg, who are 15th, just out of the relegation places.
Wolfsburg are seventh after defender Naldo sealed a 1-0 win over Augsburg on Sunday following a superb strike from 13 metres out from the ex-Selecao defender on 58 minutes sealed Wolves’ win to move Dieter Hecking’s side up the table.
