Berlin (AFP) – Jupp Heynckes made a perfect start to his fourth spell as Bayern Munich coach with a 5-0 thrashing of Freiburg at the Allianz Arena on Saturday, as Borussia Dortmund’s Bundesliga lead was cut by a 3-2 home loss to RB Leipzig.
An own goal from Julian Schuster put Bayern in front on seven minutes, and a flying header from Kingsley Coman doubled the lead shortly before half-time.
“We wanted to show what we can do straight away,” Thomas Mueller told Sky Sports. “There will be a lot of people singing our praises in the coming days, but we need to just keep working well.”
A fine strike from Thiago Alcantara put the reigning champions 3-0 up on 63 minutes, just moments after they had been denied a penalty by VAR. Further goals from Robert Lewandowski and Joshua Kimmich completed the rout.
“The team was awesome today, we deserved to win,” said Thiago.
The win saw Bayern move within two points of Dortmund at the top of the table, after the league leaders suffered their first defeat of the season to RB Leipzig.
A mistake from Stefan Ilsanker allowed Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang to give Dortmund the lead on four minutes, before goals from Marcel Sabitzer and Yussuf Poulsen turned the game in Leipzig’s favour.
“It was a very heated game,” Dortmund midfielder Gonzalo Castro told Sky Sports.
“We messed up in the first half, the two goals we conceded were far too easy.”
Dortmund were reduced to ten men after the break when Sokratis Papastathopoulos fouled Jean-Kevin Augustin in the box, and the Frenchman scored the resulting penalty.
There were further twists as Ilsanker received two yellow cards in quick succession, and Aubameyang pulled a goal back from the penalty spot on 64 minutes.
Andriy Yarmolenko could have equalised in stoppage time, but Leipzig held out to take three points and end Dortmund’s 41-game unbeaten streak at Signal Iduna Park.
“That was our best performance of the season so far,” said Poulsen.
The win saw Leipzig move up to third, overtaking Hoffenheim, who twice threw away the lead in a 2-2 draw at home to Augsburg.
– Hoffenheim stumble –
After Michael Gregoritsch had cancelled out Benjamin Huebner’s opener 15 minutes from time, Mark Uth restored the lead with a curling strike into the top corner for Hoffenheim.
Augsburg, though, equalised once again in the 89th minute, with Kevin Vogt deflecting a Jeffrey Gouweleeuw cross into his own net.
“We were the better team at times,” Augsburg’s Daniel Baier told Sky Sports. “We went to sleep a bit for their second goal, but the draw is a fair result.”
At the other end of the table, Hamburg could celebrate scoring their first goal since August despite losing 3-2 to Mainz.
Alexandru Maxim’s second-minute opener for Mainz was quickly cancelled out by Walace, the Brazilian’s equaliser ending a five-game goal drought for Hamburg.
Stefan Bell restored the lead shortly after half-time, however, before a Christian Mathenia error allowed Danny Latza to add a third. A late penalty from Sejad Salihovic was not enough for Hamburg to avoid defeat.
Elsewhere, disciplinary mistakes saw Hertha Berlin suffer a 2-0 defeat by Schalke 04, after their entire team ‘took a knee’ before the game in a political protest.
Genki Haraguchi was sent off before half-time, while Vladimir Darida conceded a penalty after the break. Leon Goretzka scored from the spot, before Guido Burgstaller added a second on 78 minutes.
Schalke moved up to fifth, after Hanover 96 were defeated 2-1 by a late Ante Rebic winner against Eintracht Frankfurt.
A Salif Sane header had cancelled out Sebastien Haller’s early goal in the first half, but Rebic struck on 90 minutes to inflict a first home defeat on Hanover this season.
