FC Bayern Munich extended their lead atop the standings after cruising 3-1 past Borussia Dortmund while RB Leipzig came from behind to beat newly promoted Hannover 96 2-1 in their respective German football league matches.
The German record champions extended Dortmund’s winless run to four games as goals from Arjen Robben, Robert Lewandowski and David Alaba wrapped up their fourth straight win in the Bundesliga on Saturday, reports Xinhua news agency.
The clash between the top two teams started evenly balanced. Things changed with 17 minutes though as James Rodriguez’ build up work allowed Arjen Robben to mark the opener, and to become Bayern’s all-time leading foreign scorer, from inside the box.
Both goalkeepers remained busy in the first half-hour as Sven Ulreich had to deny Andrey Yarmolenko before Roman Buerki was on guard to thwart Robert Lewandowski’s effort.
Dortmund came close to restoring parity when Christian Pulisic rattled the outside of the right post. However, it was the visitors who cut it better in front of the goal as Joshua Kimmich’s low cross found Lewandowski, whose back heel effort doubled the lead in the 37th minute.
The Poland international had the chance to make the game safe after the restart but Roman Buerki’s save kept Dortmund alive.
Dortmund missed a chance to reduce the arrears as Yarmolenko squandered Pulisic’s brilliant build up with 49 minutes played.
Bayern put the result beyond doubt with 69 minutes when David Alaba’s untouched cross into the box found the back of the net and tripled the lead.
Nevertheless, Dortmund kept up the effort and were rewarded with their consolation through Marc Bartra in the dying minutes of the game.
With this win, Bayern Munich established a four-point gap atop the standings while Dortmund slipped from the second to the third place in the Bundesliga table.
Substitute Emil Forsberg provided two second-half assists ensuring Leipzig’s 2-1 comeback win over Hannover on the goals from Yussuf Poulsen and Timo Werner.
Both sides played an entertaining first half with chances at both ends of the pitch. However, Leipzig should have opened the scoring seconds before the break but Julian Korb deflected Timo Werner’s effort to the crossbar.
Hannover punished Leipzig’s wastefulness in front of the target after the restart when Jonathas tapped home Ihlas Bebou’s square pass to break the deadlock with 56 minutes into the game.
Leipzig’s coach Ralph Hasenhuettl then introduced Forsberg and Naby Keita from the bench. The coach’s decision paid off in the 70th minute as Forsberg initiated a fast break, via Timo Werner, allowing Poulsen to level the score.
The hosts remained on the front foot and were rewarded with the winner after Forsberg’s ball into the area found Werner, who poked home the 2-1 decider from close range in the 85th minute.
With this result, Leipzig rose to the second spot while Hannover slipped to the fifth position.
Elsewhere, Schalke edged Freiburg 1-0 on a sole goal from Daniel Caligiuri to move to the fourth position.
Monchengladbach secured one point on home soil as Jannik Vestergaard cancelled out Mainz’ opener through Abdou Diallo.
Hamburg returned to winning ways after beating ten-men Stuttgart on goals from Aaron Hunt, Filip Kostic and Jann-Fiete Arp and Augsburg played out a 1-1 stalemate with Bayer Leverkusen.