Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund each scored twice in a rollercoaster second half for an entertaining 2-2 draw in the Klassiker on Saturday that kept the Bavarian club six points clear at the top with five games left.
Bayern have 69 points ahead of second-placed Bayer Leverkusen, who earlier drew 0-0 at home to Union Berlin.
Bayern, who visit Inter in the Champions League quarter-final return leg on Wednesday after last week’s 2-1 loss, had a slew of chances in a dominant first half. The Dortmund goalkeeper Gregor Kobel was kept busy and he twice stopped Harry Kane and also blocked Michael Olise’s point-blank effort in the 40th minute.
Dortmund, who did not have an effort on target in the first half, silenced the home crowd three minutes after the restart when Maximilian Beier was left unmarked at the far post to head in the opener.
“Until the first goal … we created chances and the game was more or less positive for us,” Bayern’s coach, Vincent Kompany, said. “After the first goal it became a cup game. I would buy a ticket to watch a game like this but as a coach you want a little bit more control. But we wanted to be six points ahead of Leverkusen at the end of the weekend and we have that.”
Bayern reacted almost instantly, pouring forward as the pace picked up, and almost equalised when the Dortmund defender Waldemar Anton’s clearance flew over Kobel and bounced off the crossbar.
It took four minutes for Bayern to turn things around with Raphaël Guerreiro levelling in the 65th with a low shot before his fellow substitute Gnabry put them in front with a sensational 35-metre solo effort.
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Florian Wirtz returned after five weeks out but could not inspire Bayer Leverkusen to pick up anything more than a scoreless draw at home to Union Berlin. Wirtz couldn’t return soon enough for Leverkusen, who were knocked out of the Champions League – by Bayern – and the German Cup – by third-division Arminia Bielefeld – while the 21-year-old recovered from an ankle injury. Xabi Alonso sent him on in the 57th minute and he made an immediate impact, setting up a chance for Exequiel Palacios. Union goalkeeper Frederik Rönnow was alert to a Wirtz cross before Granit Xhaka fired Leverkusen’s last chance over from a free-kick.
Also on Saturday, Hoffenheim defeated Mainz 2-0 to leave Leipzig in fourth place, the last for Champions League qualification, Freiburg came from behind to beat Borussia Mönchengladbach 2-1, Augsburg won 2-1 at Bochum and St Pauli edged a relegation battle at the bottom side, Holstein Kiel, also 2-1. Reuters
Dortmund, desperately hoping for a top-four spot to secure Champions League football next season, bounced back with Anton slotting home on the rebound in the 75th minute after the Bayern keeper Jonas Urbig palmed Serhou Guirassy’s bicycle kick into his path.
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Dortmund, who host Barcelona on Tuesday in their Champions League quarter-final second leg after a 4-0 loss on Wednesday, are in eighth place on 42 points, six points off the top four.
“We have a tough game on Tuesday,” said the Dortmund coach, Niko Kovac. “We know the situation. We want to win that game. [In the Bundesliga] I hope to continue this run [with two wins and a draw from the last three matches]. We still have points to earn.”
