Bayern Munich 2-1 Borussia Monchengladbach: Leon Goretzka winner leaves leaders on brink of Bundesliga title
Bayern Munich moved to within a win of the Bundesliga title as Leon Goretzka’s late strike earned a 2-1 victory over Borussia Monchengladbach on Saturday.
Goretzka converted Benjamin Pavard’s cross on 86 minutes to secure a 10th consecutive win for Hansi Flick’s side. An 11th away at Werder Bremen on Tuesday will confirm Bayern as champions for the eighth successive season.
Bayern looked on course for a frustrating draw against a battling Monchengladbach, despite being gifted the opening goal on 26 minutes when goalkeeper Yann Sommer’s wayward pass was converted by 19-year-old Joshua Zirkzee.
With strikers Robert Lewandowski and Thomas Muller suspended, the leaders returned the favour before half-time when Pavard turned the ball into his own net, and they looked out of ideas as the clocked ticked down.
But Pavard made amends for his own goal with a brilliant cross in the closing stages that Goretzka dispatched to restore Bayern’s seven-point lead at the summit with a victory that left them on the brink of glory, and Monchengladbach clinging onto fourth place.
With Borussia Monchengladbach the last side to inflict defeat on Bayern, the visitors presented a sizeable obstacle for the title-chasers, but their cause was hampered inside 10 minutes by the loss of Marcus Thuram to injury, which coupled with Alassane Plea’s suspension left them without their two main attacking threats.
Mickael Cuisance lashed a volley wide as the hosts looked to assert themselves early on, but Gladbach were unfazed by the early setback as Jonas Hofmann looked to have slotted them into the lead.
The winger latched onto a ball in behind the static Bayern defence and converted past Manuel Neuer, only for VAR to rule the goal out for a marginal offside on 16 minutes.
Sommer was drawn into a brilliant save at point-blank range as Lucas Hernandez was denied from 12 yards on 23 minutes, but the Gladbach goalkeeper was soon the villain of the piece.
The Switzerland international’s wayward pass gifted Bayern the opener as 19-year-old Zirkzee pounced on the loose ball to convert into the unguarded net.
But Bayern’s lead was short-lived. Patrick Herrmann hurtled down the right flank and his teasing cross was turned into his own net by Pavard just 11 minutes after they had hit the front.
Cuisance spurned a glorious chance to restore Bayern’s lead immediately when he headed wide from a corner on 39 minutes, but Gladbach ended the half the stronger of the two sides, momentum which they carried into the second period.
Herrmann stung Neuer’s palms within nine minutes of the restart and, with Bayern pedestrian in attack, Flick turned to substitutes Alphonso Davies and Kingsley Coman to inject some much-needed pace.
The decision marked a swing in momentum in Bayern’s favour as they mounted sustained pressure on the visiting goal. Serge Gnabry drew a fingertip save from Sommer on 69 minutes, but as time ebbed away the hosts looked out of energy and ideas.
But in typical championship form, Bayern saved their best until last as Goretzka’s dummy bewildered the Gladbach defence, allowing Pavard to run in behind, and his cross set up the unmarked German for the winner that brings the title within reach.
Man of the Match – Leon Goretzka
It was a far from vintage performance from Bayern, and for that matter Goretzka, but goals don’t come much bigger than the one he scored.
With Lewandowski and Muller missing, Bayern were crying out for someone to adopt the right positions at the right time, and Goretzka, as he has done multiple times this season, duly obliged.
The awareness he showed to step over the ball created acres of space for Pavard to run into late on, and his finish was one his absent strike partners would have been proud of.
What’s next?
Bayern can clinch the Bundesliga title away at Werder Bremen on Tuesday at 7.30pm, while Monchengladbach host Wolfsburg on Tuesday at 5.30pm.
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