Munich (Germany) (AFP)
After two consecutive defeats, Bayern recovered their health by securing the honorary title of winter Bundesliga champion on Sunday, thanks to a difficult 2-1 victory over Freiburg with a new goal from Robert Lewandowski, his 21st in 16 days!
With 36 points, the reigning champion is now four lengths ahead of Leipzig (32 pts) and seven over Leverkusen and Dortmund (29 pts) on the eve of the 17th and final day of the two-way matches on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Behind closed doors and under the snow falling on Bavaria, the Lewandowski phenomenon opened the scoring in the 7th minute.
After the equalizer of Freiburg by Nils Petersen (1-1, 62nd), Thomas Müller made the difference fifteen minutes from the end (2-1, 74th).
But Freiburg made the Bavarians tremble at the end of the match, with in particular a shot on the bar of the same Petersen in the 90th + 1 minute.
"It was a difficult victory," admitted center-back Jérôme Boateng, "in the end we shook a bit, but the important thing is that we showed that we can fight. We don't have to. always shine, you also have to win these matches (...) everything is not perfect lately ".
- Lewandowski walks on water -
If Bayern gets bogged down sometimes, Lewandowski, him, continues to walk on the water: the best FIFA-2020 player has just scored nine times in six league games, and will reach the mid-term with more than 20 goals.
If he keeps up this pace, the Pole can break a record that Germany believed to last forever: the 40 goals in a season scored by legendary Gerd "Bomber" Müller in 1971-72, in the same Bayern jersey.
This match against Freiburg, 8th in the standings, was not a routine match for the European champions.
After a difficult start to winter, they lost 3-2 last Friday to Mönchengladbach after leading 2-0, and on Wednesday they lost any chance of a treble by losing on penalties in the German Cup against the second division team from Kiel (2-2, 6 tab to 5).
Club boss Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, whose patience is not the main quality, put the pressure on this week: "The team, together with the coach (Hansi Flick), must now demonstrate that what it happened was a mishap, "he said during the week in an interview with the Munich press.
- "Rude awakening" -
Flick also admitted that the two defeats had been "a rude awakening", and tried to explain the slump by a lack of intensity in the game: "Sometimes just a meter is missing, or a second, a little physical presence, "he admitted.
He had therefore taken no risk on Saturday, with a team composed only of holders of last summer, those who had gone to seek the treble cup-championship-Champions League.
Even if some, like Benjamin Pavard or Alphonso Davies on the flanks of the defense, are not currently at their peak.
But Bayern's "lack of intensity" was still visible, and the European champions can ultimately thank luck after this perfect weekend in terms of accounting: with their three points saved by a crossbar, they dig the 'gap on their three pursuers, Leverkusen beaten 1-0 by Union Berlin, Leipzig and Dortmund held in check respectively by Wolfsburg (2-2) and Mainz (1-2) on Saturday.
cpb / chc
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