FREIBURG, Germany: Bayern Munich partly avenged their elimination from the German Cup by Freiburg midweek by winning their Bundesliga match 1-0 to keep the lead on Saturday.
Bayern stayed two points clear of Borussia Dortmund ahead of a Champions League quarterfinal with Manchester City on Tuesday, but it was hardly a comfortable win.
Just as in the cup quarterfinal loss to Freiburg on Tuesday — and in stark contrast to last week’s demolition of Dortmund in the “Klassiker” — Bayern struggled to finish off a determined and defensively well-organized Freiburg.
Matthijs de Ligt’s speculative and powerful shot from distance, deflected into the top left corner, made the difference but Freiburg had chances to draw. Ritsu Doan hit the post for Freiburg just before the break and only another strong game from goalkeeper Yann Sommer, in place of the injured Manuel Neuer, kept Bayern’s lead intact.
DORTMUND BEATS UNION
Dortmund were on track for a third straight game without a win, and a four-point gap which could have meant the end of the title race, until substitute Youssoufa Moukoko took full advantage of a glaring error from Union to score in a 2-1 win.
Donyell Malen’s 28th-minute opening goal was canceled by Kevin Behrens as Union sought valuable points in their quest to qualify for the Champions League for the first time.
That work was undone when Union’s Paul Seguin botched an attempt to control the ball and accidentally played the perfect pass for the 18-year-old Moukoko to round the goalkeeper and score.
OTHER GAMES
Bayer Leverkusen and coach Xabi Alonso continued their hot form with a seventh consecutive win in all competitions, beating Eintracht Frankfurt 2-1. With forward Patrik Schick and Adam Hlozek injured, the wingers stepped up for Leverkusen as Amine Adli and Moussa Diaby both scored.
Leverkusen next heads into a Europa League quarterfinal against Belgian club Union Saint-Gilloise on Thursday.
Cologne ended a six-game winless run by beating Augsburg 3-1.
Mainz drew with Werder Bremen 2-2 after a late flurry of goals, with all four scored after the 85th minute as Bremen twice leveled the score.
Hertha Berlin hosted Leipzig late.
Bayern get revenge on Freiburg ahead of Man City game
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Bayern get revenge on Freiburg ahead of Man City game
- Bayern struggled to finish off a determined and defensively well-organized Freiburg
- Matthijs de Ligt's speculative and powerful shot from distance, deflected into the top left corner
Hosts Morocco off to winning start at Africa Cup of Nations
- Soufiane Rahimi had a penalty saved in a frustrating first half for much-fancied Morocco
- Win saw Morocco, Africa’s best team in FIFA rankings in 11th place, to extend world-record winning run to 19 consecutive matches
RABAT: Brahim Diaz and Ayoub El-Kaabi scored second-half goals as hosts Morocco got their Africa Cup of Nations bid off to a winning start by beating minnows Comoros 2-0 in the tournament’s opening game on Sunday.
Soufiane Rahimi had a penalty saved in a frustrating first half for much-fancied Morocco, but Diaz fired home from inside the area 10 minutes after the interval at the Prince Moulay Abdellah Stadium in the capital Rabat.
Substitute El-Kaabi then got the second with a stunning overhead kick, and the victory on a wet and cold night sets the Atlas Lions up for the potentially tougher tests to come in Group A against Mali and Zambia.
The result also allowed Morocco, Africa’s best team in the FIFA rankings in 11th place, to extend their world-record winning run to 19 consecutive matches.
The game was played out before a crowd of 60,180, with Moroccan Crown Prince Moulay Hassan — who appeared on the pitch ahead of kick-off — and FIFA president Gianni Infantino among those in attendance.
Morocco’s star man and captain Achraf Hakimi also ended up watching the entire game from the bench, with coach Walid Regragui preserving the Paris Saint-Germain full-back who has not played since suffering an ankle injury with his club at the start of November.
It looked set to be a long night for Comoros when Morocco won a penalty in the 10th minute as playmaker Diaz was tripped inside the box by Iyad Mohamed.
But Rahimi’s spot-kick was kept out by the legs of Yannick Pandor as the Comoros goalkeeper dived to his right, and the visitors then succeeded in thwarting their more illustrious hosts for the remainder of the first half.
- Stunning overhead kick -
However Morocco, who also saw veteran center-back Romain Saiss come off injured early on, succeeded in breaking down their opponents after half-time.
Comoros, the tiny Indian Ocean archipelago who are 108th in the world rankings, had their resistance ended as the opening goal arrived on 55 minutes.
Manchester United’s Noussair Mazraoui, starting at right-back with Hakimi not yet quite fully fit, picked up the ball on the right side of the penalty area and squared for Real Madrid’s Spanish-born number 10 Diaz to score.
Morocco, who had seen Neil El Aynaoui almost break the deadlock just before that, then saw space open up although Comoros had a chance of their own as Rafiki Said was denied when clean through on goal.
Mazraoui forced a good save from Pandor before El-Kaabi, of Greek giants Olympiakos, lit up the occasion by meeting a cross in from the left by Anass Salah-Eddine with a magnificent overhead bicycle kick to make it 2-0.
Morocco’s next game will be on Friday against Mali, who begin their campaign by taking on Zambia in Casablanca on Monday.
Elsewhere on Monday, South Africa face Angola in Marrakech before Mohamed Salah’s Egypt — the record seven-time African champions chasing a first title since 2010 — get their bid up and running against outsiders Zimbabwe in Agadir in Group B.
This latest edition of the Cup of Nations is the first to start in one year and end in another, with the final to take place in Rabat on January 18.
