MY ACCOUNT
Bayern Munich exacted some revenge on Freiburg and maintained their two-point lead on Borussia Dortmund at the Bundesliga summit with a 1-0 win at Europa-Park Stadion.
Thomas Tuchel’s side were eliminated from the DFB-Pokal by Freiburg on Tuesday, but they dug deep four days on to remain on course for an 11th successive domestic title.
Matthijs de Ligt gave Bayern the key breakthrough six minutes into the second half with a thunderous long-range strike, either side of some fine goalkeeping from Mark Flekken.
Fourth-place Freiburg had been unbeaten in seven league games, but they were unable to respond as Bayern made it back-to-back league wins since Tuchel took charge.
Flekken was kept busy in the Freiburg goal in a lively – albeit goalless – first half to keep out efforts from Serge Gnabry, Sadio Mane, Benjamin Pavard and Leroy Sane.
Those missed chances almost came back to haunt Bayern when Ritsu Doan got an outstretched leg to Michael Gregoritsch’s cross and sent the ball against the right-hand post.
Bayern’s breakthrough arrived through their first on-target attempt of the second half, with De Ligt’s deflected shot from 25 yards swerving past a helpless Flekken.
Flekken produced one of the saves of the season soon after to deny Mane from close range, while Sane clipped the ball over the crossbar with just the goalkeeper to beat.
Sane squandered another chance when through one-on-one, but only after Yann Sommer had produced a superb save at the other end to keep out Roland Sallai’s shot.
Gnabry struck the post in the closing seconds, while Matthias Ginter glanced wide from the final meaningful attack, but Bayern successfully saw out another crucial victory.
What does it mean? Bayern keep Dortmund at bay
Bayern have a huge Champions League quarter-final first-leg trip to Manchester City to come on Tuesday, but they could not afford to take their eyes off the ball on Saturday.
Tuchel named a strong line-up and was rewarded with what was ultimately a hard-fought win against a Freiburg side who were unbeaten in a club record 12 home league games.
Dortmund claimed a late 2-1 win over third-place Union Berlin elsewhere, meaning the 10-in-a-row champions remain two points clear at the top with seven games to play.
Matthijs masterclass
Match-winner De Ligt – a centre-back, remember – pulled the trigger from a long way out to finally get the better of Flekken, who made seven saves in total.
Sommer was not quite as busy at the other end with his two saves, but they were crucial stops, especially in denying Sallai with a little over 10 minutes to go.
Sane struggles
Sane had five of Bayern’s 22 shots but could only test Flekken from one of those, the Germany international somehow failing to even find the target when twice played through.
He finished with an expected goals (xG) return of 1.21 without scoring. To put that in some perspective, De Ligt scored from an xG of 0.02, showing his team-mate how it is done.
What’s next?
Following their midweek trip to Manchester, Bayern are back in Bundesliga action against Hoffenheim next Saturday. Freiburg are at Werder Bremen the following day.
