A superb piece of finishing by French star Franck Ribery led to Bayern Munich’s 3-1 win over 10-man Arminia Bielefeld to put the German giants third, while Hoffenheim regained top spot on Saturday.
Goals by Miroslav Klose and Ribery, plus a late penalty from Lukas Podolski, gave Bayern their fourth straight league win in the Bundesliga.
The victory puts the defending champions third on 21 points, but Hoffenheim reclaimed the top place they lost for 24 hours with a 4-1 win over Karlsruhe to lead the table with 25 points.
“I am contented that we took three points and have improved our place in the table,” Bayern coach Jurgen Klinsmann said. “We had to have patience against a very organized Bielefeld side and we had to work hard.”
Having endured criticism from Bayern manager Uli Hoeness after two poor games, Podolski’s improved performance was especially pleasing for Klinsmann.
“Lukas Podolski showed exactly the reaction which I have expected from him,” he said.
Bayern took the lead at Munich’s Allianz Arena when Ribery whipped in a free-kick which was saved, but when the ball fell to Klose he slipped his marker and slotted home his shot on 25 minutes.
But Bielefeld were level just five minutes later when Bayern defender Martin Demichelis, who scored an own goal against Frankfurt on Wednesday, gave away a penalty and Poland striker Artur Wichniarek rifled home the spot kick.
Munich had Bielefeld under immense pressure in the second-half as they created 11 shots in just over 20 minutes early on, including a header from defender Lucio which hammered the crossbar.
Having squandered a bucket load of chances, Bayern finally got the deserved break through on 77 minutes when Podolski fed a pass into Ribery who slid his shot home.
And Podolski smashed home a penalty on 84 minutes as the home side dominated.
Bielefeld lost midfielder Robert Tesche on 82 minutes when he hacked down Ribery through sheer frustration and was shown a straight red card.
Having lost top place in the league for less than 24 hours to Bayer Leverkusen, Hoffenheim went back to the summit with a win over Karlsruhe.
After a slow start, Hoffenheim striker Vedad Ibisevic netted twice, while Chinedu Obasi also scored two goals.
“I do not think that we started that well and we only really made amends after a quarter of an hour,” Hoffenheim coach Ralf Rangnick said. “The reaction of the team when we went 1-1 was very good, we are of course very happy to get a big win.”
Werder Bremen picked up their first league win since the end of September when they raced into a 3-0 half-time lead against Hertha Berlin and eventually won 5-1.
Title-contenders Hamburg suffered a shock when they went down 3-0 at Hanover, having been 2-0 down after just 18 minutes, and VfB Stuttgart were also humbled 3-1 at home to strugglers Cologne.
But Schalke 04 managed a late 2-0 win over second-from-bottom Energie Cottbus thanks to a second-half goal from Heiko Westermann on 80 minutes and a penalty from Jefferson Farfan on 90 minutes.
Bayer Leverkusen briefly led the top of the table following Friday night’s convincing 2-0 win at home to Wolfsburg.
Shohei Ohtani and Clayton Kershaw on Friday joined their Los Angeles Dodgers teammates in sticking their fists out to show off their glittering World Series rings at a ceremony. “There’s just a lot of excitement, probably more than I can ever recall with the Dodger fan base and our players,” manager Dave Roberts said before Los Angeles rallied to beat the Detroit Tigers 8-5 in 10 innings. “What a way to cap off the first two days of celebrations,” Roberts said afterward. “By far the best opening week I’ve ever experienced. I just couldn’t have scripted it any better.” A choir in the
The famously raucous Hong Kong Sevens are to start today in a big test for a shiny new stadium at the heart of a major US$3.85 billion sports park in the territory. Officials are keeping their fingers crossed that the premier event in Hong Kong’s sporting and social calendar goes off without a hitch at the 50,000-seat Kai Tak Stadium. They hope to entice major European soccer teams to visit in the next few months, with reports in December last year saying that Liverpool were in talks about a pre-season tour. Coldplay are to perform there next month, all part of Hong Kong’s
After fleeing Sudan when civil war erupted, Al-Hilal captain Mohamed Abdelrahman and his teammates have defied the odds to reach the CAF Champions League quarter-finals. They are today to face title-holders Al-Ahly of Egypt in Cairo, with the return match in the Mauritanian capital, Nouakchott, on Tuesday next week. Al-Hilal and biggest domestic rivals Al-Merrikh relocated to Mauritania after a power struggle broke out in April 2023 between the Sudanese army and a paramilitary force. The civil war has claimed tens of thousands of lives and displaced more than 12 million people, according to the UN. The Democratic Republic of the Congo-born Al-Hilal
Shohei Ohtani, Teoscar Hernandez and Tommy Edman on Thursday smashed home runs to give the reigning World Series champions the Los Angeles Dodgers a 5-4 victory over Detroit on the MLB’s opening day in the US. The Dodgers, who won two season-opening games in Tokyo last week, raised their championship banner on a day when 28 clubs launched the season in the US. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts shuffled his batting lineup with all four leadoff hitters finally healthy as Ohtani was followed by Mookie Betts, then Hernandez and Freddie Freeman in the cleanup spot, switching places with Hernandez. “There’s a Teoscar tax to
RSS