Berlin: Thomas Muller’s brace helped Bayern Munich cruise 4-2 past front-runners Borussia Dortmund and ensured a perfect debut for new head coach Thomas Tuchel at the 26th round of Bundesliga Saturday.
With the result, Bayern moved past Dortmund and established a two-point gap atop the standings.
The BVB caught a bright start on the road as Matthijs de Ligt had to block Marco Reus’ shot from inside the box with seven minutes played, reports Xinhua.
Bayern opened the scoring against the run of the game moments later as Dortmund goalkeeper Gregor Kobel cleared Dayot Upamecano’s long pass into the wrong goal.
Dortmund were shocked and had to swallow the second goal in the 18th minute after De Ligt flicked a cross into the path of Muller, who tapped home at the back post.
Things went from bad to worse for the visitors five minutes later as Muller wrapped up his brace and made it three when Kobel parried a hammer from Leroy Sane into the path of the German veteran.
The hosts should have made it four before the break, but Kobel was on guard twice to deny Kingsley Coman from promising positions.
Dortmund had the chance to reduce the arrears after the restart but for all that Sebastien Haller couldn’t beat Bayern custodian Yann Sommer from inside the box.
Relentless Bayern showed no mercy at the other end of the pitch and made it 4-0 as Coman tapped home Sane’s good build-up work in the 50th minute.
Bayern continued on the front foot as Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting got a goal disallowed due to an offside position at the hour mark.
The BVB reduced the arrears out of the blue in the 72nd minute when Serge Gnabry fouled Jude Bellingham inside the area. Emre Can stepped up and converted the subsequent penalty.
Bayern ceased their offensive actions and allowed Dortmund to halve the deficit in the closing stages when Donyell Malen exchanged passes with Raphael Guerreiro before putting the ball past Sommer.
“We needed too long to react to the setbacks, but it is what it is. It is a painful loss, but we must move on quickly. It is still only a two-point gap,” said Dortmund coach Edin Terzic.
“I was nervous today. The win was a great step and helps me to learn the ropes. It was a wild game. We want to be dominant and control things, but the second half was sloppy. In fact, we played too sloppy the whole game. I saw a lot of positive things but there is a lot of room for improvement,” said Tuchel.
Elsewhere, Union Berlin stay in the top three after beating relegation-threatened Stuttgart 3-0. Leipzig suffered their second straight defeat after losing 3-0 to Mainz. Bottom side Hertha Berlin snatched a late 1-1 draw with Freiburg. Three second-half goals paved the way for Bayer Leverkusen’s 3-0 win over Schalke while Wolfsburg and Augsburg shared the spoils following a two-all draw.
Friday, Eintracht Frankfurt played out a 1-1 stalemate with Bochum.
IANS