(Football news) Bayern defeated Arminia 1-0 as they reclaimed the top spot and potentially setting up a mini title decider next week with Dortmund. A turbulent few days for Bayern after last week's Bundesliga loss to Augsburg and a lot positive COVID-19 cases amongst their players as they were desperate to go top of the Bundesliga table, but they were frustrated in a dominant first half by Arminia goalkeeper Stefan Ortega, who made some superb saves to keep the visitors in the game. Sane broke the deadlock in the 71st minute with a powerful shot after Bayern had squandered a lot of clear cut chances, to help lift his team to 31 points from 13 games. Nagelsmann’s side must be relieved, especially since the majority of the squad was missing through quarantine rules as they made tough work of their relegation-threatened opponents.
The 34-year-old told his post-match press conference, “In terms of structure, discipline and position, it was one of our best games today,” “It’s against an opponent who defends very well and deeply, and when it’s 0-0 for a long time or you miss a chance or two, it's important. Especially in our own possession. It was important that we maintain the discipline in filling positions in order to create some chances”.
Dortmund came back from behind to defeat Wolfsburg 3-1 as they are now just a point away from the 10 times champions Bayern Munich. The Wolves took a second-minute lead through Wout Weghorst who headed in at the near post to complete a perfect counter attack that had left the Dortmund defenders exposed. Dortmund levelled the score with an Emre Can penalty in the 35th minute after captain Marco Reus was brought down in the box by Wolfsburg defender Lacroix. Donyell Malen then put Dortmund in front by rifling in a hard shot from a Reus pass to score in his third consecutive game in all competitions. The icing on the cake was when Erling Haaland, who returned from a hip flexor muscle injury that had sidelined him since mid-October, scored a magnificent volley in the 81st minute. With their sixth win in the last seven league matches, Dortmund moved up to 30 points, just a point behind Bayern.
Haaland in scoring bagged his 10th league goal in seven appearances, to become the youngest ever player to reach 50 Bundesliga goals at 21 years and 128 days
Rose said on Saturday, “Everyone's looking forward to the Klassiker. Overall, we know that there are still things we want and need to keep working on. We need to get better if we actually want to be able to pose a real threat to Bayern. When they come to our stadium next week, then we obviously want to take the chance and be present”
RB Leipzig lost their fifth match of the season to Bayer Leverkusen 3-1, as the pressure on Jesse Marsch to save his job is piling. Leverkusen, who have yet to lose on the road this season, went in front when Floria Wirtz powered into the box to latch on to a perfectly-timed Palacios pass to chip the ball over the keeper. They added another goal in the 34th with Diaby rifling in from a cross by Jonathan Tah. Although Leipzig pulled a goal back through Andre Silva who powered in a powerful header in the 62nd minute it wasn’t enough as two minutes later Leverkusen restored their two-goal cushion when Angelino deflected Jerime Frimpong's shot into the Leipzig goal. It was Leverkusen's second straight win and they moved back into third place on 24 points as Leipzig moved down to 8th in table with 18 points.
"It was very weird playing without fans again. We're disappointed because these are the games we know we need to win," assistant coach Achim Beierlorzer, who was standing in for Marsch for the second game in a row
The other results were:
- VFB Stuttgart 2 (Ito, Sosa) – 1 Mainz (Hack)
- Hertha 1 (Richter) – 1 Augsburg (Gregoritsch)
- VFL Bochum 2 (Polter, Pantovic) – 1 SC Freiburg (Lienhart)
- FC Koln 4 (Ljubicic, Uth, Duda, Andersson) – 1 Monchengladbach (Hofmann)
- Frankfurt 2 (Sow, Ndicka) – 1 Union Berlin (Kruse)(pen)
- Furth 3 (Leweling, Tillman, Hrgota) – 6 Hoffenheim (Bebou x3, Meyerhofer(og), Rutter x2)
