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
Real Madrid to play Benfica, PSG face Monaco in Champions League play-offs
- Real Madrid were handed a quick rematch with Jose Mourinho’s Benfica in the draw for the Champions League play-off round on Friday, while reigning European champions Paris Saint-Germain will face dome
PARIS: Real Madrid were handed a quick rematch with Jose Mourinho’s Benfica in the draw for the Champions League play-off round on Friday, while reigning European champions Paris Saint-Germain will face domestic rivals Monaco.
Benfica beat Real 4-2 in their final game of the league phase on Wednesday, with a 98th-minute goal by goalkeeper Anatoliy Trubin proving decisive in allowing the Portuguese side to snatch the last play-off spot ahead of Marseille, who were eliminated altogether.
The defeat also nudged Madrid out of the top eight places in the league standings, which give direct access to the last 16, forcing them into this extra round.
Benfica staged a remarkable recovery to take a play-off place — they finished 24th in the 36-team league phase, the last qualifying spot — by winning three of their last four matches after losing their opening four games.
Mourinho, 63, returned to the Lisbon giants for a second spell as coach in September. He was in charge of Real from 2010 to 2013 and won one La Liga title and one Copa del Rey while also taking them to the Champions League semifinals in each of his three campaigns.
The clubs played each other in the 1962 European Cup final, with Benfica winning 5-3 to claim the last of their two titles to date.
PSG slipped out of the top eight after winning only one of their last five outings in the league phase and finishing in 11th place.
They will go to Monaco for the first leg and will be wary of the principality side who beat them there in Ligue 1 in November.
However, 2004 Champions League finalists Monaco have been in poor form, with just one win in six games since the turn of the year.
They are 10th in Ligue 1, 21 points behind leaders PSG. However, a 0-0 draw with Juventus on Wednesday allowed them to secure a play-off place in Europe.
Newcastle go to Azerbaijan
PSG also beat French opposition in the play-off round last season, hammering Brest 10-0 on aggregate before going on to lift the trophy for the first time in their history.
Elsewhere, Newcastle United will be strong favorites against surprise packages Qarabag of Azerbaijan, with the first leg to come in Baku.
PSG and Newcastle know that if they win, they will play either Barcelona or Chelsea in the last 16. Real’s possible last-16 opponents are Manchester City or Sporting, which would mean yet another trip to Lisbon in the latter case.
Bodo/Glimt, Norwegian champions in four of the last six years, were also surprise qualifiers for this stage and have been rewarded with a tie against last season’s runners-up Inter Milan.
Juventus will take on Galatasaray, while Atletico Madrid face Club Brugge. Borussia Dortmund play Atalanta and Bayer Leverkusen were drawn against Olympiacos.
The two-legged play-off ties will take place in February, with the winners advancing to the last 16 in March.
Already through to that stage are the top eight teams from the league phase, including five English Premier League sides in Arsenal, Liverpool, Tottenham Hotspur, Chelsea and City, as well as Bayern Munich, Barcelona and Sporting.
This season’s Champions League final will be played in Budapest on May 30.
