Bayern Munich and Harry Kane’s German Bundesliga title party was delayed by at least a day after RB Leipzig’s Yussuf Poulsen scored a stoppage-time equalizer in a 3-3 home draw on Saturday.
With Kane sitting in the stands due to a yellow card suspension, Bayern fell two down by half-time, Leipzig scoring twice in teeming rain in Saxony through Benjamin Sesko and Lukas Klostermann. Bayern then scored twice in 46 seconds through Eric Dier and Michael Olise to level things up with just under 30 minutes remaining.
Leroy Sane looked to have completed the comeback and clinched the title, hitting an unstoppable shot from the right of goal on 83 minutes, but Poulsen, brought on with 30 minutes to go, chipped the ball over goalkeeper Jonas Urbig in the fifth minute of stoppage time to snatch a draw.
Photo: REUTERS
“This sport is fun,” said Bayern midfielder Thomas Mueller, who is to leave the club in the summer. “It’s a little weird after that late equalizer. I feel like a champion but we’re not there quite yet. We need to sort out our feelings and make things clear next week.”
Despite the draw, defending champions Bayer 04 Leverkusen’s chances of overtaking Bayern remain close to impossible with two more weekends of the season to come. Bayern are nine points ahead and have a far superior goal difference advantage over Xabi Alonso’s side, who were to play SC Freiburg last night after press time.
Leipzig grabbed the lead 11 minutes in when Sesko pounced on a mistake from Urbig, who slipped while well outside of his penalty box, allowing the Slovenian to hit a long-range shot home.
Klostermann doubled Leipzig’s lead shortly before half-time, heading in from a David Raum free-kick. Leipzig, who needed a win to boost their hopes of Champions League football next season, were in control and looked on track for victory until Bayern shocked the hosts with two rapid-fire goals.
Dier headed in from a corner, his third goal in his past four games, before Olise made the most of a Leipzig defensive mistake to level the scores. Sane’s late goal sent Bayern’s bench wild. As the clock wound down, a beaming Kane made his way down from the stands to the sidelines, ready to collect the first title of his career.
However, Poulsen was sent through on goal by Xavi Simons and coolly chipped the ‘keeper to delay Bayern’s party.
Meanwhile, Borussia Dortmund continued their late season top-four march, beating VfL Wolfsburg 4-0 at home thanks to braces from Serhou Guirassy and Karim Adeyemi.
Guirassy gave Dortmund the lead after just three minutes and added a second before the hour, slashing in from close range after some skillful lead-up work from Pascal Gross. Adeyemi then scored two goals in four second-half minutes to put Dortmund on track for their fifth win in their past six games.
Dortmund, as low as 11th this season, went up to fourth with the victory and would stay there if Leverkusen beat Freiburg.
Elsewhere, Union Berlin came from two goals down to draw 2-2 at home against Werder Bremen, denting the visitors’ hopes of European football next season.
Bremen, hoping to return to Europe for the first time in 15 years, were two goals up after a quarter of an hour thanks to a Jens Stage brace. Union’s Tom Rothe pulled one back with a header late in the first half and Laszlo Benes scored with six minutes remaining.
Borussia Moenchengladbach’s European hopes also took a hit with a wild 4-4 home draw against Hoffenheim.
Nick Woltemade scored with two minutes remaining to send VfB Stuttgart to a 1-0 win over FC St Pauli.
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