Franck Ribery’s spectacular volley sparked Bundesliga leader Bayern Munich over Eintracht Frankfurt 1-0, and three substitutes helped Borussia Dortmund keep pace by beating Werder Bremen 3-2 on Saturday.
Bayern, who had 21 efforts on goal compared with the visitor’s four, next host SL Benfica for the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final tomorrow.
“The three points are the most important thing,” said Bayern striker Robert Lewandowski, who had a quiet game. “On Tuesday [tomorrow] we’ll have to play much, much better.”
Shinji Kagawa, Adrian Ramos, and 17-year-old Christian Pulisic all played a role as Dortmund rallied with late goals to stay five points behind Bayern with six games left to play.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang broke the deadlock in the 53rd minute, chipping the Bremen goalkeeper in style for his 23rd goal of the season after Henrikh Mkhitaryan played him through.
Bremen equalized after a corner when Alejandro Galvez’s shot — which was heading wide — was deflected inside the left post by Dortmund midfielder Gonzalo Castro.
Zlatko Junuzovic then stunned home fans when he scooped the ball home despite the presence of five Dortmund defenders after a great run from Levin Oztunali, but Marcel Schmelzer crossed for Kagawa to equalize three minutes later — which was as many minutes as the Japan star had been on the pitch.
Ramos scored the winner in the 82nd with a header from a corner earned by Pulisic. Both players had just come on two minutes before.
“Even after going behind, we never had the feeling we would lose,” Dortmund midfielder Julian Weigl said.
Dortmund turn their attention to the reunion with former coach Juergen Klopp, arriving with Liverpool for the first leg of their Europa League quarter-final on Thursday.
Earlier, Ribery scored for Bayern with an acrobatic scissors-kick, sending back the rebound after Lukas Hradecky saved Mario Goetze’s initial effort with his foot. Goetze, like Ribery making an uncommon start due to injury problems, ran at the Frankfurt defense to create the chance. It was Ribery’s second goal in eight league appearances this season; five as a substitute.
“When you only score one goal, it is even more important not to concede,” Bayern goalkeeper Manuel Neuer said.
In other Bundesliga action, FSV Mainz 05 boosted their hope of European soccer next season with a 4-2 win over Augsburg, Ingolstadt 04 defeated Schalke 04 3-0 with striker Dario Lezcano scoring his first Bundesliga goal to dent the visitor’s hopes of Champions League qualification, and SV Darmstadt 98 drew with VfB Stuttgart 2-2 in their relegation battle.
Second-half goals from defender Cleber, Ivo Ilicevic, and Nicolai Mueller sent Hamburg past Hannover 96 3-0 and eased relegation fears. Bottom-side Hannover look doomed after their 12th defeat in 14 home games this season.
“You almost feel sorry for Hannover. They are not playing like a relegated team,” Hamburg ’keeper Rene Adler said.
His counterpart, Ron-Robert Zieler, was dropped from the Germany team for the recent internationals.
“It is simply not good enough what we are delivering week in, week out,” Zieler said.
Augsburg defender Caiuby opened the scoring early in Mainz, only for Christian Clemens to equalize four minutes later, and Pablo de Blasis to complete the turnaround in the 24th.
Koo Ja-cheol leveled the score again five minutes before the break, but both de Blasis and Clemens scored again in the second half to seal the home win.
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