Dominant, Bayern was able to be patient on Saturday evening to overcome Borussia Mönchengladbach (1-0), win the anecdotal title of winter champion and maintain its four lengths lead over Bayer Leverkusen at the top of the Bundesliga.
After 16 days, Vincent Kompany’s players have 39 points, compared to 35 for Bayer Leverkusen (35), reigning German champion and on an impressive series of nine consecutive successes in all competitions, after his victory in Dortmund (3-2 ) Friday.
Manuel Neuer’s teammates, back in the Munich goals, are now assured of finishing the first leg at the top of the standings. In its history, Bayern have only surrendered the league title three times at the end of the season after finishing the first leg, the last time in 2012, ultimately beaten by Borussia Dortmund.
The duel between “Record champions” (record holder of titles) from Munich and the « Meister » (champion) Leverkusen is slowly becoming clearer, with the two teams meeting on Saturday February 15 on the pitch of the Werkself, the factory eleven, the nickname of the club team founded in 1904 by the chemist Bayer.
Next week, Bayern hosts Hoffenheim (Wednesday) and Wolfsburg (Saturday), while Leverkusen hosts Mainz (4th, 28 points), a team in good form at the moment (six wins in the last seven Bundesliga matches) on Tuesday, then Gladbach four days later.
Marmoush still scorer
Bayern striker Harry Kane shoots and scores a penalty on Saturday at Mönchenglabach in the Bundesliga. / Ina Fassbender / AFP
Saturday against its nemesis (Gladbach is the team which has taken the most points against Bayern in the Bundesliga), the Munich players found the fault after the hour mark, thanks to their English striker Harry Kane. On a cross from Kingsley Coman, Michael Ollise got the better of Lukas Ullrich who lightly touched the French international.
Kane was quick to convert his 26th consecutive penalty (his last failure dates back more than two years, during the quarter-final of the 2022 World Cup lost against France in Qatar).
In the first period, the Munich team created two big chances through Leon Goretzka (19th) and especially Thomas Müller, all alone six meters away but who came up against the Gladbach goalkeeper, Moritz Nicolas.
Captain of the English selection, Harry Kane scored his 15th goal of the season in the Bundesliga (the 21st in all competitions), thus regaining sole lead in the scorers’ ranking, which he shared for three hours with the Egyptian Omar Marmoush .
The Eintracht Frankfurt striker scored the only goal of his team’s trip to Sankt Pauli in northern Germany in the afternoon, returning to victory after three matches without a win ( including two defeats) in the Bundesliga.
Frankfurt’s Egyptian striker Omar Marmoush dribbles past a St Pauli defender on Saturday during the Bundesliga Round 16 match between the two teams. / Axel Heimken / AFP
Frankfurt takes 3rd place alone in the standings while awaiting Leipzig’s match on Sunday against Werder Bremen.
Marmoush is one of the most coveted players on the transfer market this winter. Before the meeting, Eintracht sporting director Markus Krösche confirmed on broadcaster Sky the interest of a club, without mentioning it. “A club made contact”he explained.
Sky had indicated during the week that Manchester City had reached an agreement with Marmoush. The Citizens have not replaced Julian Alvarez numerically, who left last summer for Atlético Madrid and find themselves helpless at the center forward position when Erling Haaland is not there or needs to breathe.
