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Bayern on track for another Bundesliga title

Published:Sunday | June 14, 2020 | 12:33 AM
AP Bayern’s Kingsley Coman (right) and Moenchengladbach’s Ramy Bensebaini challenge for the ball during the German Bundesliga match between Bayern Munich and Borussia Moenchengladbach in Munich, Germany, yesterday. Bayern Munich won 2-1.
Matthias Balk
AP Bayern’s Kingsley Coman (right) and Moenchengladbach’s Ramy Bensebaini challenge for the ball during the German Bundesliga match between Bayern Munich and Borussia Moenchengladbach in Munich, Germany, yesterday. Bayern Munich won 2-1.

BERLIN (AP):

Leon Goretzka scored late for Bayern Munich to take another step closer to a record-extending eighth straight Bundesliga title after beating Borussia Mönchengladbach 2-1 yesterday.

Goretzka capitalised on a lapse in concentration in the visiting defence when he struck in the 86th minute, firing inside the far post after being picked out by Benjamin Pavard.

The win kept Bayern seven points clear of Borussia Dortmund with three rounds to play. The Bavarian powerhouse can seal the title on Tuesday with a win against relegation-threatened Werder Bremen.

Bayern’s opener was set up by Gladbach goalkeeper Yann Sommer in the 26th when he passed straight to Joshua Zirkzee, who gratefully returned the ball to the unguarded net.

Gladbach had been the better side. Jonas Hofmann had a goal ruled out through VAR for offside, and Manuel Neuer denied Breel Embolo, who also missed the rebound.

But the visitors regrouped and equalised through Pavard’s own goal in the 37th. The French defender tried to stop Patrick Herrmann’s cross from reaching Hofmann at the back post but couldn’t help deflecting it past Neuer.

Bayern’s title celebrations were put on ice earlier after Erling Haaland scored in the fifth minute of injury time for Dortmund to beat Fortuna Düsseldorf 1-0.

Dortmund laboured for long periods in Düsseldorf, where Achraf Hakimi missed the visitors’ biggest chance in a one-on-one with goalkeeper Florian Kastenmeier, who also had little difficulty dealing with Julian Brandt’s effort.

GOAL RULED OUT

Raphaël Guerreiro thought he’d equalised in the 65th, when he finished off a counterattack with a volley past Kastenmeier. However, the goal was ruled out through VAR after he was adjudged to have controlled the ball with his arm.

Düsseldorf substitute Steven Skrzybski struck the post twice in the closing stages.

But it was to be another substitute, the 19-year-old Haaland, who powered home a header from Manuel Akanji’s cross in the 95th minute to keep alive Dortmund’s slim title hopes. Bayern’s goal difference is vastly superior to Dortmund’s so a draw would have been little use to Lucien Favre’s side.