Second-string Bayern edge closer to Bundesliga title
Monday, 20 April 2015 00:01
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Reuters: Injury-ravaged Bayern Munich beat Hoffenheim 2-0 on Saturday, shrugging off a string of absences and their midweek Champions League defeat at Porto to close in on the Bundesliga title.
Sebastian Rode scored in the 38th minute and Hoffenheim’s Andreas Beck added an own goal in stoppage time as Bayern opened a 13-point lead over second-placed VfL Wolfsburg, in action against Schalke 04 on Sunday, with five matches left.
“We played a good first half with a lot of control,” said coach Pep Guardiola, who left Xabi Alonso, Thiago Alcantara and Jerome Boateng on the bench at the start to give them a rest and selected youngsters Mitchell Weiser and Gianluca Gaudino.
“The second half was more complicated and our legs were a bit tired,” added the smiling Spaniard, whose team could clinch the title as early as next week if Wolfsburg lose. “I am very proud of my players.”
The German champions, who host Porto on Tuesday in the Champions League quarter-final, second leg after Wednesday’s 3-1 loss, were without half a dozen starters, including Philipp Lahm, Arjen Robben, Franck Ribery and Bastian Schweinsteiger.
They had more distractions this week with their long-time team doctor Hans-Wilhelm Mueller-Wohlfahrt quitting and saying he was made to blame for the Porto loss.
But goalkeeper Manuel Neuer was in top form, spectacularly denying Anthony Modeste at point blank range after a defensive blunder by Brazilian Dante.
Rode then made the most of Bayern’s second chance of the game, curling his shot from the edge of the box past keeper Oliver Baumann.
Bayern dominant
Rode was lucky not to be penalised for bringing down Eugen Polanski in the area a minute later but there was no denying the dominance of Bayern, who came close again when Robert Lewandowski scraped the bar at the start of the second half.
They did get a second goal when Thomas Mueller charged into the box and cut the ball back to the unfortunate Hoffenheim captain Beck who slipped the ball into his own net.
Bayer Leverkusen crushed relegation-threatened visitors Hanover 96 4-0 to jump into third spot on goal difference after Borussia Moenchengladbach, also on 54 points, drew 0-0 at Eintracht Frankfurt on Friday.
Augsburg reignited their European hopes with a 2-1 victory over VfB Stuttgart, their first win in five games, that lifted them to fifth on 42 and left their opponents, the 2007 Bundesliga champions, in 17th place in the drop zone.
Borussia Dortmund eased past visiting Paderborn 3-0, in their first game since the announcement that Coach Juergen Klopp would leave at the end of the season, to keep their hopes of a Europa League place alive and climb to 36 points, in eighth.
Cologne set a Bundesliga record with their eighth goalless draw of the season, this time against Hertha Berlin, the result helping both teams move further away from the relegation zone.
