Borussia Dortmund forward Robert Lewandowski scored twice as the champions beat Hannover 96 3-1 on Sunday to go four points clear at the top of the Bundesliga and stretch their winning streak to seven games.
Rivals Bayern Munich moved into second place on 48 points after beating Schalke 04 2-0, with Frenchman Franck Ribery grabbing both goals in a dazzling performance.
Poland international Lewandowski fired in from a tight angle in the first half as hosts Dortmund initially attacked at will, with Hannover’s busy schedule, including their Europa League matches, looking to have sapped their energy.
Photo: Reuters
The 23-year-old then took his league tally to 16 goals, sliding in 10 minutes after the restart for his second.
Substitute Didier Ya Konan cut the deficit on the hour for the visitors, but Dortmund’s Ivan Perisic struck in stoppage-time to extend the hosts’ unbeaten run to 17 games and lift them to 52 points.
“We played a very good game and it was only down to us that we did not decide it in our favor much earlier,” Dortmund coach Juergen Klopp said.
Earlier on Sunday, Ribery scored twice as home side Bayern bounced back from their 1-0 Champions League midweek defeat at Basel to move back into second spot.
“We are back in the game,” Ribery, who combined well with fellow winger Arjen Robben throughout, told reporters. “We showed a good reaction. Now we have to keep winning and wait for Dortmund to slip up.”
Bayern coach Jupp Heynckes opted to bench playmaker Toni Kroos and instead deploy Thomas Mueller in a central role between Ribery and Robben as he reshuffled the team in search of a more offensive spark.
The gamble paid off as the trio were a constant threat to the Schalke defense.
Former Germany goalkeeper Timo Hildebrand was on hand to deny Robben and Mueller, before racing out of goal nine minutes before the break to stop Ribery, instead seeing the ball float over his head as the Frenchman snatched the lead.
Schalke’s Joel Matip should have leveled right after the restart when he was sent through with only goalkeeper Manuel Neuer to beat, but instead he fired wide.
Bayern punished the visitors with Ribery combining well with Mueller in the box to grab his 10th league goal as Bayern looked sharper than in their past five league games, in which they had managed only two wins.
The victory lifted Bayern back into second place.
Major League Baseball (MLB) star Shohei Ohtani wants his former interpreter to hand over hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of baseball cards he says were fraudulently bought using his money. The Los Angeles Dodgers star is also requesting Ippei Mizuhara, who previously pleaded guilty to bank and tax fraud for stealing nearly US$17 million from the unsuspecting athlete, return signed collectible baseball cards depicting Ohtani that were in Mizuhara’s “unauthorized and wrongful possession,” court documents filed on Tuesday said. The legal filing alleges Mizuhara accessed Ohtani’s bank account beginning in about November 2021, changing his security protocols so that he
US skier Mikaela Shiffrin said she sustained an abrasion on her left hip and that something “stabbed” her when she crashed during her second run of an Audi FIS Ski World Cup giant slalom race on Saturday, doing a flip and sliding into the protective fencing. Shiffrin stayed down on the edge of the course for quite some time as the ski patrol attended to her. She was taken off the hill on a sled and waved to the cheering crowd before going to a clinic for evaluation. “Not really too much cause for concern at this point, I just
CLASH OF MANAGERS: Brighton’s Fabian Hurzeler and Russell Martin of Southampton accused each other of disrespect, while both were booked Southampton on Friday were denied a priceless victory by a controversial decision as they drew with hosts Brighton & Hove Albion 1-1 in the Premier League. Kaoru Mitoma spectacularly headed Brighton into a first-half lead and Flynn Downes hammered home an equalizer an hour in. Minutes later teammate Cameron Archer converted a cross from Saints substitute Ryan Fraser. A video assistant referee check of more than four minutes eventually decided that Archer was onside, but then penalized Adam Armstrong, who was offside, but did not touch the ball, for interfering with goalkeeper Bart Verbruggen. “I find it hard to accept,” Southampton manager Russell Martin
Mary McGee, a female racing pioneer and subject profiled in an Oscar-contending documentary, Motorcycle Mary, has died, her family said. She was 87. “McGee’s unparalleled achievements in off-road racing and motorcycle racing have inspired generations of athletes that followed in her footsteps,” her family said in a statement. The family said McGee died of complications from a stroke at her home in Gardnerville, Nevada, on Wednesday, the day before the release of the short documentary Motorcycle Mary, on ESPN’s YouTube channel. Seven-time Formula 1 champion Lewis Hamilton was an executive producer on the film, which became available globally on Thursday. Its premiere
RSS