Reigning champions Bayern Munich extended their lead at the top of the Bundesliga on Saturday after winning at Cologne, while Schalke 04 won the Ruhr derby against bitter rivals Borussia Dortmund.
Bayern kept a clean sheet for their fourth straight Bundesliga match in a 2-0 victory to move to 14 points, two clear of Borussia Moenchengladbach.
Pep Guardiola’s side opened the scoring on 19 minutes when Mario Goetze struck his third goal in the past two matches.
Photo: Reuters
The visitors continued to press Cologne and finally doubled the lead midway through the second half when Daniel Halfar put through his own net.
“They didn’t do anything. They just played in the back and tried to counter, and never really came out, but I congratulate the team, we remained calm and did our job,” Bayern winger Arjen Robben said.
Meanwhile, ’Gladbach won 2-1 at SC Paderborn 07 thanks to early goals from Patrick Herrmann and Raffael, with Jens Wimmer getting one back for the promoted club, who had been top before losing at Bayern last week.
Moenchengladbach’s win took them above Bayer 04 Leverkusen, who had to play more than an hour with 10 men, but held on for a 0-0 draw away at SC Freiburg.
Leverkusen defender Emir Spahic was sent off in the first half, although Freiburg also finished the game a man down after Pavel Krmas was dismissed.
In Gelsenkirchen, Schalke picked up their second straight victory with a 2-1 win at home over hated rivals Dortmund.
Dortmund’s recent defensive struggles continued as goals from Joel Matip and Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting left them trailing 2-0 by the midway point in the first half.
Jurgen Klopp’s side did reduce the deficit shortly afterwards courtesy of a Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang strike, but they could not find an equalizer and have collected only seven points from six games this season, one fewer than Schalke.
“It was an important victory, especially for our fans. It’s fantastic,” Schalke coach Jens Keller said.
Ivica Olic scored in the 57th minute to secure VfL Wolfsburg a 2-1 victory at home against Werder Bremen to jump to seventh place with eight points.
After Ricardo Rodriguez fired Wolfsburg ahead in the 15th minute, Marnon Busch equalized after 37 minutes.
Elsewhere, Hannover 96 went down 1-0 at struggling VfB Stuttgart, Daniel Schwaab scoring his team’s first goal at home this season in the 69th minute.
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
MLB on Friday announced a formal investigation into the scandal swirling around Shohei Ohtani and his former interpreter amid charges that the Los Angeles Dodgers superstar was the victim of “massive theft.” The Dodgers on Wednesday fired Ippei Mizuhara, Ohtani’s long-time interpreter and close friend, after Ohtani’s representatives alleged that the Japanese two-way star had been the victim of theft, which was reported to involve millions of dollars and link Mizuhara to a suspected illegal bookmaker in California. “Major League Baseball has been gathering information since we learned about the allegations involving Shohei Ohtani and Ippei Mizuhara from the news media,” MLB