BERLIN: This time, Robert Lewandowski failed to score.
It didn’t matter on Saturday as others did for Bayern Munich to stretch their Bundesliga lead to nine points with a 4-1 win in Freiburg.
Leon Goretzka, Serge Gnabry, Kingsley Coman and Marcel Sabitzer got the goals as Bayern put the pressure on second-placed Borussia Dortmund, which hosted fourth-placed Leipzig later.
Six rounds remain after this weekend.
Lewandowski recovered from a midweek injury scare to start but failed to add to his 31 league goals. Last season, the Poland star scored against Freiburg in the penultimate round to match Gerd Müller’s Bundesliga record of 40. He broke it in the final game of the season against Augsburg.
Bayern had more of the ball in the first half against Freiburg but struggled to create clear-cut chances against the well-organized home team.
Freiburg’s first lapse led to the opener, scored by Goretzka in the 58th with a header to Joshua Kimmich’s free kick. Goretzka was making his first start since Dec. 4.
But substitute Nils Petersen equalized six minutes later, just seconds after going on for Freiburg.
Bayern’s Serge Gnabry repeated the feat in the 73rd after replacing Benjamin Pavard. The Germany forward fired inside the left post after Nico Schlotterbeck failed to deal with Lucas Hernández’s cross.
Coman added a brilliant strike from distance in the 82nd, and Sabitzer completed the scoring in the sixth minute of injury time. It was the Austrian’s first goal in the Bundesliga.
Sabitzer went on in the 86th for Coman but there was some confusion around the substitution as it appeared Bayern may have briefly played with 12 players. There was a brief holdup in play and heated discussion among players and officials before referee Christian Dingert allowed the game to continue.
Third-placed Bayer Leverkusen defeated Hertha Berlin 2-1 to leave the visitors second from bottom on goal difference from Arminia Bielefeld, which came from behind to draw with Stuttgart 1-1.
They left the relegation scrap finely poised. Hertha, Bielefeld and Augsburg are all on 26 points, just one behind Stuttgart. Augsburg have played two games fewer than their relegation rivals.
Bochum won at Hoffenheim 2-1 and last-placed Greuther Fürth drew at Eintracht Frankfurt 0-0.
Lewandowski fails to score but Bayern build Bundesliga lead
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Lewandowski fails to score but Bayern build Bundesliga lead
- Leon Goretzka, Serge Gnabry, Kingsley Coman and Marcel Sabitzer got the goals as Bayern put the pressure on second-placed Borussia Dortmund
- Lewandowski recovered from a midweek injury scare to start but failed to add to his 31 league goals
Liverpool’s Slot says football must do more after Vinicius racism allegation
- The Dutchman said Jeremie Frimpong is still out this weekend but fellow defender Joe Gomez is ready to start if needed
Liverpool manager Arne Slot says more needs to be done to avoid racism in football following allegations by Real Madrid’s Brazilian forward Vinicius Jr that he was subjected to racist abuse from Benfica’s Argentine winger Gianluca Prestianni.
Real’s 1-0 Champions League playoff first-leg win at Benfica on Tuesday was overshadowed by Vinicius accusing Prestianni of directing a racist slur at him, a charge denied by the Portuguese club, the player and their manager Jose Mourinho.
European soccer’s governing body UEFA said it was reviewing the incident, which led to the game being halted for 11 minutes under FIFA’s anti-racism protocol.
“In general you can never do enough, you can always do more to make sure this (racism in football) never happens again,” Slot told reporters ahead of Liverpool’s Premier League visit to relegation-threatened Nottingham Forest on Sunday.
“We have to try as a football community to do more than society does. That’s maybe not so difficult, by the way. Protocol was followed in the game, that’s the first step,” he said on Thursday.
“I would hope my players would act in a similar way — immediately address it, and the referee acts in a similar way.”
Regarding the Forest game, Slot expects a different set-up under the Midlands club’s new manager Vitor Pereira compared to the meeting in November when Liverpool lost 3-0 at Anfield.
Former Wolverhampton Wanderers boss Pereira was appointed last Sunday to replace the sacked Sean Dyche.
“We only have tonight (Thursday) to see if this new manager changes personnel,” Slot said, referring to Forest’s first game under Pereira at Fenerbahce in a Europa League playoff tie.
“The good thing is they have that game, and the manager was in the Premier League last season.”
The Dutchman said Jeremie Frimpong is still out this weekend but fellow defender Joe Gomez is ready to start if needed.
Slot said his side have improved over the past few months, with Liverpool sixth in the table on 42 points from 26 games.
“We have improved compared to three, four months ago. We are in a much better place than months ago,” the 47-year-old added.
“There are more reasons, but the most simple two are how fit we are and that we’re much better at set-pieces at the moment.”
Forest are languishing in 17th spot, one place and three points above West Ham United in the relegation zone.
