Joker Leroy Sané kept the flagging record champions Bayern Munich on track in the title race.
With a lot of effort, the Munich team beat their feared opponent Eintracht Frankfurt 1-0 (0-0) – despite the success before the start of the decisive weeks, they again revealed unusual weaknesses.
Sané (71st) saved Bayern from the next slip shortly after he was substituted on. The league leaders thus extended their lead over Borussia Dortmund to nine points, at least for the time being. However, BVB can catch up with FC Augsburg on Sunday (5:30 p.m. / DAZN).
As in the first leg, which Bayern lost (1:2), the star ensemble around world footballer Robert Lewandowski once again struggled against Frankfurt for a long time. Eintracht, on the other hand, suffered their third bankruptcy in a row and are gradually losing touch with the European Cup places.
Musiala replaces Müller in Bayern’s starting XI
Nagelsmann had to rebuild his team again compared to the win against SpVgg Greuther Fürth (4:1). In addition to goalkeepers Manuel Neuer, Alphonso Davies, Corentin Tolisso and Leon Goretzka, Thomas Müller, who was infected with Corona, was also missing. Jamal Musiala was in the starting XI, as were Niklas Süle, Serge Gnabry and Kingsley Coman.
In Frankfurt, too, the focus was on the Russian war of aggression in the Ukraine. A minute’s silence was observed, and Lewandowski, who does not want to play with Poland’s national team in the World Cup play-offs against Russia, played with an additional Ukraine captain’s armband.
In a wild early phase, Bayern made a powerful start in front of 25,000 fans and created chances straight away through Benjamin Pavard (4th) and Musiala (10th). But Bayern wobbled defensively again – and were lucky that Filip Kostic (7th) narrowly missed the goal. The counterattacks by Oliver Glasner’s team caused problems for the guests.
Eintracht Frankfurt causes many pinpricks – Trapp strong
Nagelsmann, who had emphasized the importance of the next five games on the way to the goals of the season, saw that his team took control but did not have any brilliant ideas. Only once did Bayern put Lewandowski (34th) in the limelight before the change.
After the break, Bayern initially increased the pace. Pavard’s header (53′) was cleared by Evan Ndicka in dire need of the line, Lewandowski (60′) failed to free in front of the strong national goalkeeper Kevin Trapp. However, the guests still could not get the defensive susceptibility to Frankfurt lurking on the counter under control.
Kostic, Jesper Lindström and BVB loan player Ansgar Knauff repeatedly caused pinpricks in his starting eleven debut. Nagelsmann reacted and brought Sane for the final phase – with success. The international struck four minutes after coming on after a nice pass from Joshua Kimmich.