(Football news) Bayern Munich extended their lead at the top of the table after they managed a narrow 1-0 victory over Eintracht Frankfurt. Bundesliga top scorer Robert Lewandowski, playing with a blue and yellow armband in the colours of the Ukrainian flag was left frustrated by Frankfurt goalkeeper Kevin Trapp, who also denied Joshua Kimmich and Kingsley Coman with a string of superb saves. Frankfurt had the opportunity to score in the second half when Evan Ndicka headed over the bar from point blank range in the 65th minute. Bayern however were not prepared to end their record scoring run in the league and then grabbed a late winner through Leroy Sane who scored from a perfectly-timed Kimmich through ball which was tucked away comfortably past Kevin Trapp.
“We needed to fight for this win," Kimmich said. "We did it well, had several good chances and should have scored earlier to be more dominant in the end. The way we played was good and this win was really important," he said after Bayern's fifth win in their last six league games. “But it is still a long way to go and there have been cases before when we had a bit of a cushion and then squandered it. We need to protect this advantage until the end."
Dortmund’s week just got worse after they succumbed to a 1-1 draw against Augsburg. Dortmund took the lead in the first half through Thorgan Hazard’s solo effort in the 35th minute but in the second half Augsburg snatched a 78th-minute equaliser through Noah Sarenren Bazee. The result left Dortmund on 50 points in second place, eight behind Bayern and 6 points ahead of Bayer Leverkusen who are third on 44. Dortmund were looking to give something for their fans to cheer for after their midweek Europa League exit to Rangers, Dortmund were still without top striker Erling Haaland and also lost captain Marco Reus ahead of the match because of a knock.
"We tried a lot of things and had a lot of control, but we didn't do everything right," said Dortmund coach Marco Rose, who admitted his team were "losing strength" when Augsburg equalised.
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The other results were:
- Hoffenheim 2 (Baumgartner x2) – 1 VFB Stuttgart (Endo)
- Furth 1 (Griesbeck) – 1 Koln (Kainz)
- SC Freiburg (Grifo, Schade, Holer) – 0 Hertha Berlin
- Leverkusen 3 (Alario, Diaby x2) – 0 Arminia
- Monchengladbach 2 (Thuram, Embolo) – 2 Wolfsburg (Wind, Bornauw)
- VFL Bochum 0 – 1 RB Leipzig (Nkunku)
- Union Berlin 3 (Haraguchi, Becker, Awoniyi) – 1 Mainz (Burgzorg)
