(Football news) Bayern Munich maintained their lead at the top of the standings after they powered past VfL Bochum 3-0 on Saturday as they warmed up for next week’s Champions League round of 16 clash against Paris Saint-Germain. Thomas Muller started off the scoring when he chased down a clearance from his own half and got possession after a weak back pass from Saidy Janko to slot home and opened the scoring in the 41st minute.
Leon Goretzka should have doubled the lead at the end of the half-time but he sent his header wide of the post from two metres out. Bayern’s new goalkeeper Yann Sommer had to pull off a brilliant one-handed save to send Philipp Hofmann’s header wide in the 52nd minute. The hosts then turned on the pressure to score twice and finish off the game as substitute Kingsley Coman gave the hosts a two-goal cushion four minutes after coming on and easily slotting the ball through the legs of keeper Manuel Riemann in the 64th minute.
Serge Gnabry put the icing on the cake for a fine performance when he rifled in a penalty for their third goal 10 minutes later to seal victory. Bayern with that result are on 43 points which is one ahead of second-placed Union Berlin. The Bavarians could have added a few more goals towards the end of the match with Bayern’s new 17-year-old sensation Arijon Ibrahimovic, who came on as a late substitute, carved out a few good chances but he failed to score. Bayern will be going into the PSG match after a string of three consecutive wins as they will be looking to take advantage of PSG’s recent slump in form and the fact Kylian Mbappe is set to miss the first leg with a minor injury.
“This match today influences Tuesday’s game [against PSG],” said Bayern coach Julian Nagelsmann. “On Tuesday we want to improve and the result is important [for the Bundesliga] because we were only one point ahead of Union [before the game] who play later. Our lead is not big so we have to keep winning our games.”
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