Saturday, October 23, 2021 at 5:27 PM• Mart Oude Nijeweeme • Last update: 17:37

Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund made no mistake in the battle for the title in the Bundesliga on Saturday afternoon. Bayern was 4-0 too strong for TSG Hoffenheim at home, while Borussia Dortmund triumphed 1-3 without Erling Braut Haaland on a visit to Arminia Bielefeld. The afternoon was not entirely carefree for Dortmund, as goalkeeper Gregor Kobel was left injured in the dressing room halfway through the game. Dortmund will play the return against Ajax in the Champions League in a week and a half. Mark van Bommel went down with VfL Wolfsburg for the fourth time in a row, this time against SC Freiburg: 0-2.

Bayern Munich – TSG Hoffenheim 4-0
From the first whistle it became clear that there was little honor to be gained for Hoffenheim on Saturday afternoon. After two minutes of play, Robert Lewandowski already fired on the enemy goal, but the Pole was inaccurate and shot just wide. Five minutes later Serge Gnabry was accurate. Before the goal, however, a violation was noted, as a result of which the goal was disallowed on the advice of the VAR. Not much later, Gnabry hit the mark when he received the ball from Jamal Musiala on the right side of the sixteen and goalkeeper Oliver Baumann left no chance with a diagonal shot: 1-0.

Hoffenheim did very little in return and had to watch as Lewandowski doubled the score after half an hour. From a great distance, the attack leader made a beautiful shot in the top right corner: 2-0. Lewandowski could have increased his tally in the first half, but this time was stopped by Baumann. Even after the break it was Bayern that dominated and had opportunities through Musiala and Marcel Sabitzer, but they too did not see their effort promoted to a goal. Ten minutes before the end, Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting scored the 3-0 from a rebound, after which Kingsley Coman provided the final chord in the absolute final phase with a nice shot.

Arminia Bielefeld – Borussia Dortmund 1-3
With Donyell Malen in the starting line-up at Dortmund, the first danger of the game came from the home team. Arminia, who has yet to win a game in the Bundesliga this season, had to watch goalkeeper Kobel act. Dortmund soon straightened out and opened the score after half an hour of play, when the ball hit the spot after a foul by Cédric Brunner. In the absence of Haaland, Emre Can took his place behind the ball. The midfielder did not fail and found the right corner: 0-1. It was Can’s first penalty in 77 Bundesliga matches.

Without playing big, Dortmund seemed to decide the game before half-time via Mats Hummels. The center defender suddenly took the ball out of the air about twenty meters from the goal and scored well: 0-2. The game then rippled along, with Arminia occasionally asserting itself. Patrick Wimmer tried with a shot into the left corner, but saw how reserve goalkeeper Marwin Hitz performed successfully. Hitz came in halfway through the game for Kobel who had been left behind in the locker room. After Jude Bellingham had signed for the 0-3 with a beautiful solo, Fabian Klos took care of the final chord from the dot: 1-3.

VfL Wolfsburg – SC Freiburg 0-2
Van Bommel had to do it again without Wout Weghorst, who was felled by the corona virus, while the trainer kept Micky van de Ven on the bench as usual. In a fairly even first half, Freiburg took the lead after half an hour. A free kick by Vincenzo Grifo was saved with difficulty by Koen Casteels, after which Philipp Lienhart tapped in the rebound: 0-1. Just under ten minutes later, Mark Fleks was saved by the crossbar with a shot by Lukas Nmecha, while the Freiburg goalkeeper saw a threatening header from John Brooks fly over in the second half. Freiburg doubled his lead in the 68th minute via Lucas Höler, who took advantage of a good play down Christian Günter’s left wing: 0-2.

RB Leipzig – Greuther Furth 3-1
A Dutch tinted Greuther Fürth, who took office with Nick Viergever and Jetro Willems, brutally took the lead in Leipzig just before half-time. Branimir Hrgota scored from eleven meters. After the break, the home side put things in order. After Yussuf Poulsen had leveled both teams, Emil Forsberg gave Leipzig the lead for the first time from the penalty spot. The score was further increased by Dominik Szoboszlai, who made a nice touch in the left corner, and Hugo Novoa, who scored on Szoboszlai’s pass. Brian Brobbey was not part of the match selection and therefore did not play.