MUNICH: Jamal Musiala came off the bench to rescue an injury-hit Bayern Munich, scoring twice in a 4-2 win over lowly Heidenheim, sending his side six points clear in the Bundesliga on Saturday.

With the top four sides all playing teams in the bottom half in this round, Frankfurt let a one-goal lead slip to draw 2-2 at home with Augsburg and lose ground on Bayern.

Bayern dominated proceedings but were unable to turn pressure into points, with Harry Kane’s absence telling. The German giants were one goal up at half-time after Dayot Upamecano headed from a corner 18 minutes in.

The France defender turned villain early into the second period when he passed directly to Mat­hias Honsak, who gleefully accepted the invitation to equalise.

Bayern manager Vincent Kompany, whose side were eliminated in the German Cup by Bayer Leverkusen midweek, brought Musiala off the bench and the 21-year-old blasted in five minutes later.

Leon Goretzka’s late goal put Bayern on course but Heidenheim scored again, this time through Niklas Dorsch, to keep the heat on the home side, Musiala would have the final say, dribbling on the counter from the half-way line and scoring his second.

Borussia Dortmund’s away woes continued in Saturday’s late game, held to a 1-1 draw with Borussia Moenchengladbach despite another stunning Jamie Gittens goal ahead of Wednesday’s home Champions League clash with Barcelona.

Gittens, who scored an excellent solo goal in last week’s 1-1 draw against Bayern, dribbled past three Gladbach defenders and blasted a shot in off the crossbar after 64 minutes to put Dortmund ahead.

With Dortmund on track for their first away win of the season, Pascal Gross held Tim Kleindienst away from a looping cross just inches from goal.

The hold was unnecessary as Dortmund goalie Gregor Kobel got his fingers to the ball but a penalty was given on VAR review, with Kevin Stoeger converting.

Subbed on in the 89th minute, Gladbach’s Tomas Cvancara was sent off after picking up two yellows inside a minute in stoppage time, but the hosts held on to grab a point.

Dortmund have now drawn two and lost four of their six away games this season.

In Frankfurt, a goalless first half gave way to four goals in 19 second-half minutes. Hugo Ekitike’s 55th-minute goal was cancelled out by a Phillip Tietz strike five minutes later.

Augsburg then took the lead through Samuel Essende, before Turkish teenager Can Uzun levelled things up three minutes later.

Defending champions Lever­kusen continued their recent resurgence, beating promoted St Pauli 2-1 thanks to first-half goals from Florian Wirtz and Jonathan Tah. Injuries to Victor Boniface, Patrik Schick and Amine Adli deprived Leverkusen coach Xabi Alonso of a centre-forward.

Wirtz however filled in nicely, finishing calmly in front of goal after eight minutes before Tah headed in from a cross midway through the second half. Pauli’s Morgan Guilavogui scored late but it was not enough as Leverkusen held on to win their fifth straight game.

RB Leipzig got back to winning ways, defeating promoted Holstein Kiel 2-0 away, their first victory in the league since October.

Benjamin Sesko put the visitors in front 27 minutes in and Andre Silva converted a penalty to seal the game.

Jens Stage scored the only goal as Werder Bremen won 1-0 at struggling Bochum, who have only two points in 13 games this season.

Published in Dawn, December 9th, 2024