Joshua Kimmich’s sublime chip gave Bayern Munich a 1-0 win at second-placed Borussia Dortmund in Der Klassiker as the Bundesliga leaders put one hand on the title. Kimmich’s perfectly weighted effort left Roman Bürki stranded in the 43rd minute as the champions landed a big win at an empty stadium that normally seats 80,000 fans.
“We now have a good cushion on Dortmund,” Kimmich said. “That was brutally important today. “It’ll be mentally difficult for Dortmund to keep up. We have to reaffirm this lead in the next games. You could see that it was very, very intense and we had to work our way up to the three points. It was relatively balanced, especially in the first half we made many simple mistakes. Dortmund were very bold.”
Bayern are now unbeaten in 13 league matches in their quest for a record-extending eighth straight league crown and are seven points clear at the top with six games to play. RB Leipzig, who face Hertha Berlin on Wednesday, are third a further three points behind Dortmund.
The Bundesliga became the first major league to restart 10 days ago after a break of more than two months because of the Covid-19 pandemic, with games played without supporters to reduce the risk of infection.
It all started well for Dortmund, who were on a six-game winning streak in the league at the start, when Erling Braut Haaland almost scored for the hosts in the opening seconds. Jérôme Boateng had to clear the ball off the line.
The visitors gradually found their footing and had their own effort cleared off the line when Lukasz Piszczek denied Serge Gnabry from close range. In a fluid and entertaining first half 19-year-old Haaland should have done better when he was sent through in the 33rd minute, but Alphonso Davies stole the ball away.
It was Kimmich’s delightful effort that settled the game when he spotted Bürki off his line and chipped the ball from the edge of the penalty area over the keeper. Bayern stayed in control after the break and an injury meant Dortmund lost Haaland, who earlier had another effort deflected wide by Boateng’s elbow, with 18 minutes left.
Dortmund’s Mo Dahoud tried his luck from outside the boxpenalty area but Manuel Neuer, on his 400th league appearance, managed to preserve his clean sheet and Robert Lewandowski came close to giving Bayern a second goal, hitting a post in the 83rd minute.
Dortmund’s Mats Hummels, who used to play for Bayern, said: “We were too wasteful around the penalty area in the first half,. We had two or three opportunities to shoot. It was that all-important final ball. It was missing in certain moments, otherwise we would have had chances. When we did have the chances, then our finishing wasn’t good enough. It was not a poor performance. We fell just a little short.
“Every team apart from Bayern is now out of the title race. Now it is entirely up to Bayern to decide whether they win it or not.”
Bundesliga roundup
Marin Pongracic scored his first two Bundesliga goals as Wolfsburg romped to a surprise 4-1 win at Bayer Leverkusen, boosting their hopes of playing in European competition next season. Cardboard fans in the otherwise empty stadium did little to inspire Leverkusen, who had won both their games since the season restarted. Centre-back Pongracic headed the visitors into a 43rd-minute lead when he met a Maximilian Arnold free-kick. Arnold made it 2-0 with a heavily deflected free-kick and Renato Steffen headed in the third soon after. Another fine cross by Arnold allowed Pongracic to make it four with a glancing header before Julian Baumgartlinger scored a late consolation.
Werder Bremen drew 0-0 at home to Borussia Mönchengladbach, a result which moved the visitors into the top four but kept Bremen in the relegation zone. Bremen came alive in the second half and missed a couple of big chances, above all when substitute Davie Selke cut into the area in the 89th minute but could only fire straight at visiting goalkeeper Yann Sommer. Gladbach had a flurry of early chances but their attacking ambitions faded. “Every point is important in our situation, but if you watched the game you would say that we deserved more,” Bremen’s Davy Klaassen said.
Eintracht Frankfurt ended a run of five successive Bundesliga defeats as they staged a late rally to draw 3-3 at home draw with Freiburg. Daichi Kamada and Timothy Chandler scored in the closing stages to rescue a vital point for the struggling hosts who had inexplicably slipped 3-1 behind in a match they dominated. André Silva scored the home side’s other goal when he equalised in the first half for Frankfurt. Vincenzo Grifo had opened the scoring for Freiburg before Nils Petersen and Lucas Höler also put away rare chances for the seventh-placed visitors, who were looking to boost their European hopes.
