MUNICH: Robert Lewandowski scored his 60th goal of the year as leader Bayern Munich won 2-1 against previously unbeaten Freiburg in the Bundesliga on Saturday.
Lewandowski knocked the ball in from close range in the 76th minute after stretching to redirect Leroy Sané’s attempted shot. Of his 60 goals in 2021, 51 have come for Bayern and nine for Poland. Lewandowski had set a new single-season scoring record for the Bundesliga with 41 goals in 2020-21.
Leon Goretzka gave Bayern the lead in the 30th off a slick team passing move and could have scored more in the second half, when he hit the post with one shot and clipped the crossbar with another.
Janik Haberer ensured a nervy finish when he scored for Freiburg in added time as Bayern conceded its 10th goal in four games in all competitions.
A day after getting his first call-up to the German national team, striker Lukas Nmecha scored the only goal of the game in Wolfsburg’s 1-0 win over Augsburg.
Nmecha headed in off Paulo Otavio’s cross in the 14th to score in his third successive game in the Bundesliga and Champions League. That kept up new coach Florian Kohfeldt’s winning start at Wolfsburg after a 2-0 win at Bayer Leverkusen last week and a 2-1 defeat of Salzburg in the Champions League.
Both goalkeepers tried to score goals as Bochum beat Hoffenheim 2-0, but neither made it work.
Bochum was already leading 1-0 from Soma Novothny’s goal when it won a penalty and selected goalkeeper Manuel Riemann to take it, but he blasted the ball far off target.
Deep in stoppage time, Hoffenheim goalkeeper Oliver Baumann went up to the opposing penalty area for a corner, allowing Bochum’s Miloš Pantovic to score into the empty net from inside his own half on the counterattack.
Relegation-threatened Arminia Bielefeld got its first league win of the season, beating Stuttgart 1-0 thanks to Japanese winger Masaya Okugawa’s goal on the counter.
Second-place Borussia Dortmund visits Leipzig later Saturday.
Lewandowski scores in Bayern win for 60th goal of 2021
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Lewandowski scores in Bayern win for 60th goal of 2021
- Lewandowski knocked the ball in from close range in the 76th minute after stretching to redirect Leroy Sané's attempted shot
- Leon Goretzka gave Bayern the lead in the 30th off a slick team passing move
Benzema hat-trick helps Al-Ittihad to a comfortable win over 10-man Al-Kholood
- The 4-0 win saw the reigning champions climb to fifth in the Saudi Pro League table, but still a sizeable nine points behind leaders Al-Hilal
DUBAI: Karim Benzema scored a first-half hat-trick as Al-Ittihad extended their recent improved run of form to beat hosts Al-Kholood 4-0 and climb to fifth in the Saudi Pro League table.
The reigning champions now have 26 points from 13 matches and remain nine points behind leaders Al-Hilal. Al-Nassr sit in second with 31 points, ahead of Al-Taawoun on goal difference, while Al-Qadsiah are fourth with 27 points.
A difficult fixture for Al-Kholood became almost impossible when defender William Troost-Ekong received a straight red as early as the eighth minute. It came as little surprise that Ittihad would quickly overwhelm the beleaguered home team, with Benzema opening the scoring on 13 minutes from the penalty spot and then doubling the lead on 28 minutes, converting from Muhannad Al-Shanqiti’s assist.
The Frenchman completed his treble in the 35th minute, tapping home Moussa Diaby’s low cross from close range in a very similar manner to his second goal. Saleh Al-Shehri completed the rout six minutes from the end to secure a fourth straight SPL win for the club.
Earlier in the day, Al-Taawoun beat 10-man Al-Shabab 2-0 at home to stay third in the table. Roger Martinez opened the scoring with a 27th minute penalty, nine minutes after the away team’s MohammedAl-Shwirekh had received his marching orders. Angelo Fulgini scored the second in first half stoppage to secure three points and ensure Al-Taawoun bounced back from last week’s loss to Al-Ittihad.
In Friday’s other match, Al-Khaleej claimed a comprehensive 4-0 win over Damac, who had been reduced to 10 men after only 24 minutes. Al-Khaleej sit in ninth place in the standings, while Damac are 14th.
