Bayern Munich narrowed the gap with Bundesliga leader Union Berlin to one point on Saturday afternoon. With Matthijs de Ligt in the base won Der Rekordmeister with 0-2 at TSG Hoffenheim. Furthermore, Borussia Dortmund was 5-0 too strong for VfB Stuttgart, while Micky van de Ven with VfL Wolfsburg drew 2-2 at Bayer Leverkusen, where Jeremie Frimpong and Mitchel Bakker started in the base.
TSG Hoffenheim – Bayern Munich 0-2
Bayern dominated in the first half and took the lead in the 17th minute via Jamal Musiala: a corner kick was extended, landed at his feet and the attacking midfielder signed for the 0-1. Shortly afterwards, the Bavarian side had the chance to double the score three times: first, Leon Goretzka saw his shot from close range by Baumann, then Kevin Akpoguma cleared Musiala’s header and Kingsley Coman’s subsequent shot. was again a prey for Baumann. Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting made it 0-2 more than five minutes before the break, by working in a low cross from Serge Gnabry. The home side were closest to scoring through Georginio Rutter in the first half, but saw goalkeeper Sven Ulreich make two saves.
A lot less happened in the second half. The first real chance came only twenty minutes before the end, when Baumann managed to stop an attempt by Marcel Sabitzer with his feet. With Ryan Gravenberch and Noussair Mazraoui on the team in the 76th minute, Bayern eventually managed to easily cross the line with three points. It is now only one point below Union Berlin, which will visit the last player VfL Bochum on Sunday.
Borussia Dortmund – VfB Stuttgart 5-0
Dortmund opened the score after one and a half minutes, where Donyell Malen was missing due to a cold. A low cross from Niklas Süle could easily be pushed in by Jude Bellingham: 1-0. The same Süle himself was the maker of the 2-0 for more than ten minutes, when he successfully extended a free kick by Raphaël Guerreiro with his foot. Stuttgart, number fourteen in the Bundesliga, struggled to get through the Dortmund defense on the other side of the field. The best opportunity of the first half for the visitors was for Tiago Tomás, but goalkeeper Gregor Kobel made the save. Just before the break, Giovanni Reyna lifted the margin to three with a controlled shot into the far corner.
Dortmund continued to score happily in the second half. Bellingham curled the ball from the edge of the penalty area into the far corner (4-0) and Youssoufa Moukoko easily walked in a cross from Guerreiro (5-0). Via Luca Pfeiffer (shot and header over) and Nikolas Nartey (shot just wide), Stuttgart was still close to the honorary goal, but Dortmund seemed to keep a clean sheet. In the 89th minute, Pfeiffer still scored, but the VAR ruled out the goal due to offside. As a result, the final score was 5-0.
Bayer Leverkusen – VfL Wolfsburg 2-2
At Wolfsburg there was a negative leading role for Micky van de Ven in the first half. The defender made hands early in the game. However, the ensuing penalty was missed by Moussa Diaby. The same Diaby made up for his mistake not much later, when he only went after goalkeeper Koen Casteels and this time remained cool: 1-0. After half an hour, the visitors were level when Leverkusen midfielder Robert Andrich unluckily flipped the ball past his own goalkeeper. Wolfsburg took the lead after the break: Edmond Tapsoba fouled Felix Nmecha, after which Maximilian Arnold used the awarded penalty. The 2-2 was completely Dutch: substitute Daley Sinkgraven found Frimpong at the far post after a good action, after which the Amsterdammer, who was included in the pre-selection of the Netherlands this week, could simply tap the ball in.