Robert Lewandowski celebrates scoring the 0:3 goal during the
German first division Bundesliga football match between DSC Arminia
Bielefeld and FC Bayern Munich at the SchuecoArena in Bielefeld,
western Germany, on October 17, 2020. (Photo by WOLFGANG RATTAY /
POOL / AFP)
Robert Lewandowski and Thomas Mueller both scored twice
as Bayern Munich banished their early-season blues with a thumping
4-1 win over Bundesliga minnows Arminia Bielefeld on Saturday after
a “crazy” first half.
Treble winners Bayern started the day in mid-table following a
shock defeat to Hoffenheim last month, but victory in Bielefeld was
enough to propel them back up to second place.
The champions burst out of the blocks and had an early penalty
appeal turned down before Mueller bundled in the opener on eight
minutes.
Lewandowski doubled the lead shortly afterwards, smashing the
ball in from the edge of the area after a sharp cross from Leon
Goretzka.
The Poland striker linked up with Mueller to make it 3-0 just
before half-time, and returned the favour after the break with a
pinpoint cross to set up Mueller’s second.
“The first 45 minutes were crazy, we played really well. We knew
that the first game after the international break would be really
important,” Lewandowski told Sky.
Japan winger Ritsu Doan then pulled one back for Bielefeld on
the break, the PSV Eindhoven loanee netting his first Bundesliga
goal since moving to Germany in the summer.
Yet despite a late red card for Corentin Tolisso, Bayern were
untroubled in the final stages and c an now turn their attention to
Wednesday’s Champions League opener against Atletico Madrid.
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Hansi Flick’s side now sit level on points with third-placed
Borussia Dortmund, who snatched a late 1-0 win at Hoffenheim
earlier on Saturday.
– ‘Hectic schedule’ -Dortmund, who like Bayern had already lost
one game this season, looked set to drop further points before
Erling Haaland and Marco Reus came off the bench in the second half
to breathe new life into a blunt performance.
Haaland, 20, surged forward on the break to set up Reus with a
tap-in and snatch Dortmund’s first away victory over Hoffenheim in
eight years.
“They’ve always made it difficult for us here in recent years.
We didn’t have many good chances in the first half and we knew we
needed to create more in the second half,” the goalscorer told
Sky.
Haaland was initially rested after he played three times for
Norway in the previous two weeks, prompting criticism of the busy
international schedule.
“At Dortmund, we are used to having a lot of midweek games at
this stage of the season. The schedule is a bit more hectic this
year, so we have to look after ourselves,” said Reus, after
slotting Haaland’s square pass into the open net to score his first
goal since February.
Dortmund and Bayern now sit one point behind league leaders RB
Leipzig, who held onto top spot with a 2-0 win against surprise
high-fliers Augsburg.
Angelino headed Leipzig in front on the stroke of half-time to
score his second goal in two games, before Yussuf Poulsen doubled
the lead with a sumptuous volley on 66 minutes.
“These are the games you need to win if you want to land in the
top four,” Leipzig coach Julian Nagelsmann told Sky.
Elsewhere, Lucas Alario’s first half header sealed a 1-0 win for
Bayer Leverkusen and extended second-from-bottom Mainz’s miserable
run to four defeats in four games.
Promoted side Stuttgart continued their good start to the
season, as Marc-Oliver Kempf and Gonzalo Castro fired them to a 2-0
win away to Hertha Berlin, while Werder Bremen held Freiburg to a
1-1 draw in the south west.
Freiburg took the lead early on through Philipp Lienhart and had
a second goal ruled out for offside before Bremen’s Niclas
Fuellkrug levelled the scores from the penalty spot.
-AFP