Bayern Munich trimmed Borussia Dortmund’s lead at the top of the Bundesliga to two points on Saturday as the Bavarians enjoyed a 2-1 home win over Hannover 96.
After midfielder Toni Kroos put the hosts ahead at Munich’s Allianz Arena with a well-taken first-half chip, Germany striker Mario Gomez extended his tally as the Bundesliga’s top-scorer with his 23rd goal in 26 matches.
He rolled his shot under Hannover goalkeeper Ron-Robert Zieler in the 68th minute to claim Bayern’s second, before striker Didier Ya Konan pulled a goal back with a spectacular bicycle-kick in the 74th minute.
Photo: Reuters
Hannover, who face Atletico Madrid in the first-leg of their Europa League quarter-final on Thursday, could have rescued a point as former Manchester United striker Mame Diouf headed over the bar with time almost up.
“You can see why Hannover 96 are in the last eight of the Europa League and the top third of the league table,” Bayern coach Jupp Heynckes said.
With Dortmund set to visit Cologne in the Rhineland derby, Bayern took the opportunity to cut the defending champions lead, leaving them on 57 points to Dortmund’s 59 with seven matches left.
Schalke 04, who host Athletic Bilbao in the quarter-finals of the Europa League on Thursday, moved up to third in the table with a 2-0 win at home to Bayer 04 Leverkusen on Saturday evening.
Dutch striker Klaas-Jan Huntelaar scored with headers either side of halftime to seal the win to leave him with 22 goals in 25 league goals this season and second in the goal-scoring table only to Gomez.
The Netherlands hot-shot opened the scoring on 18 minutes when he converted a cross from Austria defender Christian Fuchs and he struck again four minutes from time after a final pass from Peru striker Jefferson Farfan.
Borussia Moechengladbach slipped back to fourth in the title race when they threw away the lead to lose 2-1 at home to TSG 1899 Hoffenheim, which leaves them six points behind Bayern, eight behind Dortmund.
Moechengladbach were cruising to victory after a first-half goal from Dortmund-bound midfielder Marco Reus seven minutes before halftime, but Hoffenheim took the three points with two goals in as many second-half minutes.
Brazil midfielder Roberto Firmino earned a yellow card for his shirtless celebrations in the 77th minute, before a sharp header from Boris Vukcevic in the 79th minute scuppered Moechengladbach’s hopes.
Kaiserslautern coach Krassimir Balakov, who took over after Marco Kurz was sacked in midweek, had an unhappy start to his tenure as his team were beaten 2-0 at SC Freiburg to remain bottom of the league.
It was Kaiserslautern’s 17th league game without a win and it means they are now six points adrift at the bottom.
The win lifts Freiburg to 14th and drops Hamburg SV into the relegation places.
Hertha BSC Berlin remain second from bottom despite their 3-1 win at FSV Mainz 05, but things are tight at the bottom as only two points separate 17th and 13th in the league.
In other action, Augsburg rescued a 1-1 draw with Werder Bremen with a stoppage-time goal.
Additional reporting by staff writer
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