Germany midfielder Bastian Schweinsteiger saved Bayern Munich’s blushes with a second-half equalizer on Saturday as the Bundesliga leaders were held 1-1 at Cologne.
Bayern were heading for their first defeat in any competition since November until Schweinsteiger scored his first league goal since September to keep Munich two points clear at the top of the table.
“We knew Cologne were going to try and build a defensive wall against us and that is what they did,” a frustrated Schweinsteiger said. “We wanted to take three points, not one.”
Cologne’s Lukas Podolski, who had earlier hit the post, gave his side the lead against his former club when his direct free-kick on 32 minutes spun off goalkeeper Hans-Jorg Butt’s hand and into the top left-hand corner of the net.
It was the 24-year-old’s first league goal since September and he celebrated in style — fists pumping and pointing to the Cologne badge on his shirt.
His Germany teammate Schweinsteiger equalized for Bayern after some clever work by rising star Thomas Mueller in the penalty area on 58 minutes to give the guests a point.
“It wasn’t good that we conceded the goal, it’s good for him [Podolski], but it was bad for us — we shouldn’t have let it in,” Schweinsteiger said after being asked about his former teammate’s goal.
Bayern nearly claimed the three points when second-half substitute Franck Ribery hit the post with less than six minutes remaining.
On Saturday evening, Borussia Dortmund strengthened their European ambitions by beating Borussia Moenchengladbach 3-0 at home to go fifth in the table.
Dortmund’s Egyptian striker Mohamed Zidan, who scored against England last week, netted twice.
Earlier, second-placed Schalke 04 kept up the pressure on Bayern with an impressive 4-1 win at Eintracht Frankfurt.
Hannover 96, who are just above the relegation zone, picked up their first win in 14 games when they managed a 2-1 win at SC Freiburg.
It was their first win since the tragic death of their captain and Germany goalkeeper Robert Enke, who committed suicide in November after suffering from depression.
Werder Bremen fought back from being 2-0 down to claim a 2-2 draw with VfB Stuttgart, who had raced into an early lead.
The opening goal came after midfielder Aliaksandr Hleb won the ball in a duel with Bremen’s Torsten Frings, before a well-timed pass found Russia striker Pavel Pogrebnyak, who rifled his shot home on 15 minutes.
Stuttgart went 2-0 up when a sweet cross from Timo Gebhart was met by Sami Khedira, who headed home on 42 minutes, but Portugal striker Hugo Almeida pulled a goal back for Bremen, before Frings made up for his earlier mistake with a penalty on 82 minutes to claim the point that leaves Bremen sixth and Stuttgart seventh in the table.
VfL Wolfsburg survived an early scare at home to VfL Bochum, before recording a comfortable 4-1 win.
Bochum scored an early goal through Paul Freier, before Edin Dzeko scored twice as the Wolves ran out easy winners.
Hertha Berlin remain rooted to the bottom of the table after their 1-0 loss at Hamburg SV with former Germany defender Marcell Jansen hitting the winner.
TAIWANESE EXITS: Fellow Australian Christopher O’Connell joined Tristan Schoolkate as a winner following his 6-1, 6-2 defeat of Tseng Hsin-chun Australian qualifier Tristan Schoolkate on Monday dispatched rising Brazilian talent Joao Fonseca 7-6 (7/5), 6-4 at the ATP Toronto Masters, ensuring a breakthrough into the world top 100. The 24-year-old from Perth moved to 98th in the ongoing live rankings as he claimed his biggest career victory by knocking out the ATP NextGen champion from November last year. Schoolkate, son of a tennis coach, won his first match over a top-50 opponent on his sixth attempt as he ousted the world No. 49 teenager from Brazil. The qualifier played a quarter-final this month in Los Cabos and won through qualifying for his
Top seeds Alexander Zverev of Germany and American Coco Gauff on Tuesday advanced to the third round of the Canadian Open after both players were pushed hard by their opponents. World No. 3 Zverev, playing in his first match since his first-round loss at Wimbledon, was far from his best, but emerged with a 7-6 (8/6), 6-4 win over Adam Walton under the lights in Toronto. Momentum shifted firmly in Zverev’s favor when he won a 52-shot rally in the first set tiebreak and he sealed the win on a double fault by the Australian in the second set. “It was a very
Canadian teenager Victoria Mboko upset top-seeded Coco Gauff 6-1, 6-4 on Saturday night to reach the National Bank Open quarter-finals. “Your support was incredible,” Mboko told the crowd in French after a chorus of “Ole, Ole, Ole” chants echoed around the venue. “I’m really happy to win today ... It’s incredible. I’m so happy to beat such a great champion.” Gauff dropped to 2-3 since winning the French Open. She followed the major victory with opening losses in Berlin and Wimbledon, then overcame double-fault problems to win two three-set matches in Montreal. Gauff had five double-faults on Saturday after having 23 in
Formula 1 champion Max Verstappen on Thursday said that he is staying with the Red Bull team next year, ending months of speculation over his future. “Some people just like to stir the pot, some people just like to create drama, but, for me, it’s always been quite clear, and also for next year,” the four-time champion said ahead of the Hungarian Grand Prix. “I’m discussing with the team already the plans — the things that we want to change for next year, so that means that I’m also staying with the team for next year,” he said. Verstappen has a contract with
RSS