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Stunning Musiala goal steers Bayern to victory
IMAGE: Bayern Munich’s players celebrate winning their match against St Pauli at Millerntor-Stadion, in Hamburg, on Saturday. Photograph: Lisi Niesner/Reuters
Bayern Munich earned a nervous 1-0 win at St Pauli thanks to a sensational 28-metre drive from Jamal Musiala to stay unbeaten and open a six-point lead atop the Bundesliga on Saturday.
Bayern, fresh from their 1-0 Champions League win over Benfica courtesy of another goal from in-form Musiala, will go into the international break leading the standings.
They have 26 points ahead of second-placed RB Leipzig, who host Borussia Moenchengladbach later on Saturday. Eintracht Frankfurt, who visit VfB Stuttgart on Sunday, are third on 17.
The Bavarians had the upper hand at the start but did not succeed in taming the hosts straight away.
IMAGE: Jamal Musiala unleashed a ferocious shot that went in off the crossbar for his fifth league goal in the 23rd minute. Photograph: Lisi Niesner/Reuters
Promoted St Pauli looked confident and gradually became more aggressive, carving out a couple of chances of their own. As the hosts pushed for a goal, however, it was Bayern who struck.
Germany midfielder Musiala won possession 30 metres out, took two steps and unleashed a ferocious shot that went in off the crossbar for his fifth league goal in the 23rd minute.
Promoted St Pauli turned out to be a tough nut to crack despite Bayern’s possession of more than 70%.
They gave the visitors little space to create chances for much of the second half with St Pauli waiting for their opportunity to hit the Bavarians on the break.
Bayern did come close late in the game with first Musiala firing over the bar and then Harry Kane failing to beat the Bochum keeper from close range a little later.
Struggling Bochum snatch draw against Leverkusen
IMAGE: Bayer Leverkusen’s Patrik Schick celebrates scoring their first goal with teammates. Photograph: Thilo Schmuelgen/Reuters
Koji Miyoshi scored an 89th minute goal to give strugglers VfL Bochum a 1-1 draw against visiting champions Bayer Leverkusen in the Bundesliga on Saturday.
Leverkusen looked to be labouring to a 1-0 win when Miyoshi struck from close range to level to give new Bochum coach Dieter Hecking a successful start to his quest to turn their season around.
It was a third straight draw in the league and fifth in the last six league games for Leverkusen and just the second point in 10 matches for Bochum.
Patrik Schick had bagged Leverkusen’s lead after he was sent through by Florian Wirtz with a superb ball and then threaded it through the legs of the Bochum goalkeeper, saw it hit the post and roll in for an 18th minute lead.
Bochum were by no means overrun, working hard in defence to shut down spaces but lacked more clinical finish up front until the late equaliser.
“It is the same feeling as against (Holstein) Kiel,” Leverkusen coach Xabi Alonso told a press conference.
“We again could not finish the game with a win and conceded before the end an equaliser. We have to do that better. We have to keep working on that and learn to handle it and secure the three points.”
Leverkusen had squandered a two-goal lead against Holstein Kiel last month, conceding two goals to settle for a 2-2 draw.
“Bochum were disciplined at the back and we did not do well in the last third of the pitch,” Alonso said. “We just were not good enough.”
The result left Leverkusen, who lost 4-0 at Liverpool in the Champions League, in fourth place on 17 points, nine off leaders Bayern Munich.
10-man Dortmund slump to loss at Mainz
IMAGE: Jonathan Burkardt celebrates scoring FSV Mainz 05’s second goal with teammates. Photograph: Heiko Becker/Reuters
Champions League competitors Borussia Dortmund slumped to a 3-1 loss at Mainz 05 on Saturday, a fourth consecutive defeat on the road in the Bundesliga this season which left them seventh in the standings.
Dortmund, who had a midweek confidence boost with a 1-0 home win over Sturm Graz, will now have to go back to the drawing board during the international break to attempt to turn their season around.
The defeat increased the pressure on coach Nuri Sahin, whose team are playing well in Europe but are not able to earn points away from home in the Bundesliga.
Dortmund, missing more than half a dozen key players through injury, struggled against Mainz and were left with 10 men in the 27th minute when captain Emre Can, under fire for his performances, launched a reckless studs-up challenge for a straight red card.
Things got even worse when Lee Jae-sung was left completely unmarked to head Mainz into a 36th-minute lead.
The South Korean then brought down Dortmund striker Serhou Guirassy in the box for a penalty five minutes later which the Guinea international converted.
The Dortmund defence, however, was again caught out when Jonathan Burkardt turned in a cutback in first-half stoppage time.
After the break, Mainz picked up where they had left off, bagging a third goal through Paul Nebel from close range, his first ever league goal.
Dortmund, who have lost four of their five away games this season and drawn the other, could not find a way back into the game and the hosts missed several chances to add to their tally.
The Ruhr valley club is on 16 points in seventh spot with Mainz three points behind in ninth.
