Bundesliga: Bayern turns game against Gladbach, Tella ends Leverkusen's goal drought

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Harry Kane scored to make it 2-1 for Bayern

Photo: Lukas Barth / AFP

The title candidates in the Bundesliga continue to give nothing away: While FC Bayern Munich managed to win 3-1 (1-1) at home against Borussia Mönchengladbach after being behind, Bayer Leverkusen managed to win 2-0 (1-0) in Darmstadt Mandatory victory. Werder Bremen scored an early goal at Mainz 05 to make it 1-0 (1-0), while VfL Bochum conceded a late equalizer at home against FC Augsburg to make it 1-1 (1-0). VfB Stuttgart's guest appearance at SC Freiburg was delayed after the game was interrupted.

Troubled weeks for Borussia Mönchengladbach's defense: The previous week, coach Gerardo Seoane's team fought to a 0-0 draw against leaders Bayer Leverkusen with great effort, and seven days later the best attack in the league followed at FC Bayern Munich.

And he had chances early on: Leroy Sané first hit the crossbar (5th minute), then the national player narrowly missed the ball on goal from a good five meters (10th). Gladbach's goalkeeper Moritz Nicolas was also challenged; Nicolas scratched a strong free kick from Harry Kane out of the corner (31').

After half an hour, Gladbach became more courageous, Florian Neuhaus (33') and Jordan's header (34') came close to scoring. The double chance was enough to make Bayern nervous. Nico Elvedi intercepted Manuel Neuer's bad pass in the direction of Thomas Müller, and after a one-two with Jordan, the central defender made it 1-0 (35').

Neither the lead nor Gladbach's attack lasted for long: Müller put Aleksandar Pavlovic in the spotlight before the break with a pass, and the youngster scored his second Bundesliga goal and the equalizer for Bayern from a tight angle (45th). The second half only had good news for Bayern: right-back Sacha Boey, who came from Galatasaray, made his debut after an hour, Kane took advantage of Nicolas' uncertainty after a cross to head into the empty goal (70th). .

With winter signing Borja Iglesias in the starting line-up, Bayer Leverkusen were hoping for the emergence of a new goalscorer against Darmstadt - and that's what they should get. Only: It wasn't the Spanish striker who delivered the goals that the Werkself had recently been missing in the absence of the injured Victor Boniface.

Winger Nathan Tella, in place of Jeremie Frimpong on the right wing in the starting line-up, cracked the defensively-minded newcomer twice: First, Tella headed a long cross from Alejandro Grimaldo over the line at the second post to take the lead (33'), after the break the attacker, who was signed from Southampton in the summer, with a powerful shot from a tight angle (52').

After 20 match days, Leverkusen has 52 points and the lead over Bayern is still two points.

Bremen got off to a perfect start and mercilessly exploited a slapstick moment from Mainz. Central defender Anthony Caci shot at teammate Tom Krauß in the penalty area, the ball bounced at the feet of Werder striker Marvin Ducksch, who scored from the turn to make it 1-0 (2nd minute). Mainz then tried to equalize without actually getting dangerously close to the Bremen goal.

Even after the break, the hosts had more of the game, but were unable to improve their home record. Mainz remains the weakest home team in the league and is in 17th place. Bremen, on the other hand, is winning for the third time in a row and is now in eighth place. The FSV will play at home again on Wednesday, then in the basement duel against Union Berlin (6.30 p.m.).

At the beginning, the Bochum team, who were strong at home, were the more active team. Patrick Osterhage provided one of the few offensive accents with a slalom run through the Augsburg defense (9th minute). A hard-fought but unspectacular game then developed, in which the home team took the lead after a corner. Augsburg couldn't defuse the situation, the ball accidentally landed at Moritz Broschinski, who scored with an overhead kick from five meters (33').

FCA got a little better in the second half, but it was Bochum who had the great chance to score the second goal after a bad pass from goalkeeper Finn Dahmen (75th). In stoppage time, Augsburg punished this negligence, Ermedin Demirović converted a hand penalty (90th + 1).