BERLIN: Jude Bellingham and Mahmoud Dahoud scored late goals as Borussia Dortmund came from behind to seal a dramatic 3-2 win at Eintracht Frankfurt on Saturday.
Dortmund cut Covid-hit Bayern Munich’s lead to six points at the top of the Bundesliga.
With nine players sidelined by Covid, a makeshift Bayern side lost 2-1 at home to Gladbach on Friday before second-placed Dortmund left it late in Frankfurt a day later.
Eintracht raced into an early 2-0 lead with Colombia striker Rafael Borre scoring both goals before Dortmund pulled one back with 19 minutes left.
Erling Haaland sparked the recovery by setting up Thorgan Hazard to halve the deficit.
Bellingham levelled with three minutes left by heading past Frankfurt goalkeeper Kevin Trapp before Dahoud curled in the winner from the edge of the area just before the final whistle.
Earlier, Togo striker Ihlas Bebou struck twice as Hoffenheim also fought back to seal a 3-1 home win against Augsburg to climb to third in the table.
Augsburg took an early lead through a header by Michael Gregoritsch before Bebou converted a pair of crosses to put Hoffenheim ahead, with defender David Raum bagging their third goal in stoppage time.
The win allowed Hoffenheim to leapfrog both Freiburg and Leverkusen, who drew at home to Arminia Bielefeld and Union Berlin respectively.
Freiburg threw away a two-goal lead at home as Bielefeld’s Japan midfielder Masaya Okugawa and substitute forward Bryan Lasme scored second-half goals to earn a 2-2 draw in Germany’s Black Forest.
Lasme’s equalizer three minutes from time was down to a mistake by Freiburg stand-in goalkeeper Benjamin Uphoff on his Bundesliga debut with first choice Mark Flekken sidelined by Covid.
Freiburg had been 2-0 up 20 seconds into the second half when South Korean midfielder Jeong Woo-yeong netted after Janik Haberer gave the hosts an early lead with a long-range shot.
In Leverkusen, Germany defender Jonathan Tah headed in a late equalizer for the hosts to rescue a 2-2 draw with Union Berlin.
Czech Republic striker Patrik Schick notched his 17th Bundesliga goal this season from a tight angle to give Leverkusen a first-half lead after a powerful run by team-mate Moussa Diaby.
However, Union attacking midfielder Grischa Proemel scored twice before Tah headed in a Karim Bellarabi cross six minutes from time.
Portugal striker Andre Silva scored twice as hosts RB Leipzig routed 10-man Mainz 4-1 with Christopher Nkunku and Dominik Szoboszlai also getting on the scoresheet.
Visitors Mainz had defender Alexander Hack sent off after just 20 minutes for using his arm to block a Silva shot that was heading into the goal.
Hack trudged off and Silva converted the resulting penalty while Szoboszlai doubled Leipzig’s lead just after the break when the Hungarian midfielder fired home after Nkunku’s perfectly-timed pass.
South Korea’s Lee Jae-sung grabbed a goal back for Mainz, but just 62 seconds later Leipzig were 3-1 up when Szoboszlai returned the favor by setting up Nkunku before Silva grabbed his second.
The win saw Leipzig climb to eighth in the table while Greuther Fuerth remain bottom after a goalless draw at home to Stuttgart.
Dortmund fight back in Frankfurt to trim lead of Covid-hit Bayern
https://arab.news/bc77k
Dortmund fight back in Frankfurt to trim lead of Covid-hit Bayern
- Dortmund cut Covid-hit Bayern Munich's lead to six points at the top of the Bundesliga
- Erling Haaland sparked the recovery by setting up Thorgan Hazard to halve the deficit
Trump said Iran ‘welcome to compete’ in World Cup, says Infantino
US President Donald Trump has said that Iran is “welcome” to participate at the upcoming World Cup in North America, despite the ongoing Middle East war, FIFA chief Gianni Infantino said on Wednesday.
The war, triggered by US-Israeli strikes on February 28, has thrown into doubt Iran’s participation at this summer’s men’s football World Cup, jointly hosted by Canada, Mexico and the United States.
During a meeting to discuss preparations for the competition, “we also spoke about the current situation in Iran,” Infantino, the head of world football’s governing body, wrote on Instagram.
“During the discussions, President Trump reiterated that the Iranian team is, of course, welcome to compete in the tournament in the United States,” he wrote.
The comments marked the first time that Infantino, who in December created a FIFA peace prize and awarded it to Trump, has acknowledged the ongoing war in the Middle East.
Trump’s remarks to Infantino are a stark contrast to his comments to Politico last week.
Trump told Politico: “I really don’t care” if Iran play at the World Cup.
FIFA’s president has grown close to Trump since he returned to the White House, even attending his inauguration.
Asylum claims
Iran’s federation football chief on Tuesday cast doubt on his team’s participation in the sporting extravaganza, following the defection of several women footballers from the Islamic republic during the Asian Cup in Australia.
“If the World Cup is like this, who in their right mind would send their national team to a place like this?” Mehdi Taj asked on Iranian state television.
While the event is spread out across three countries, Iran are scheduled to play all three group games in the United States, two in Los Angeles and one in Seattle.
Should Iran withdraw from the sport’s quadrennial showpiece, it would be the first time a country did that since France and India pulled out of the 1950 finals in Brazil.
On Tuesday, at the Women’s Asian Cup in Australia, some players from Iran’s team claimed asylum after they came under fire from state television for not singing the country’s national anthem before one match.
Five players, including captain Zahra Ghanbari, slipped away from the team hotel under the cover of darkness to claim sanctuary from Australian officials, the Australian government announced.
At least two more team members applied to stay later in the day, according to local media.
However, Australia’s Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said on Wednesday that one of them had subsequently changed her mind.
Burke said in parliament on Wednesday that he had since been advised that one of the group “had spoken to some of the team mates that left and changed their mind.”
“She had been advised by her team mates and encouraged to contact the Iranian embassy,” he said.
“As a result of that, it meant the Iranian embassy now knew the location of where everybody was.”
The remaining players have been moved from a safe house to another location, he said.
