Leaders Bayern Munich cruise to victory over Union Berlin, but Hertha win
Tanguy Nianzou scored his first Bayern Munich goal on a rare start as the Bundesliga leaders recovered from two straight league draws on Saturday.
They had an easy 4-0 home win over Union Berlin.
The defending champions, seeking a 10th title in a row, increased their advantage back to seven points pending Borussia Dortmund’s trip to Cologne on Sunday.
Kingsley Coman opened the scoring on 16 minutes with a fast, swerving effort which goalkeeper Andreas Luthe should still have done better with.
“We played very well, we played together, we defended together. We were very efficient…and created lots of chances,” Coman said.
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Nianzou, 19, then headed in a corner-kick on 25 minutes with Luthe getting a hand to the ball and again slightly at fault.
The French centre-back has struggled since arriving from Paris St-Germain (PSG) in 2020.
But the absences of Benjamin Pavard (coronavirus) and Niklas Süle (thigh injury) opened the door against Union Berlin.
He had a few worries defensively but eighth-placed Union Berlin could not find a final pass.
This is as Bayern Munich upped the ante on Borussia Dortmund with seven games left for the leaders to play.
Luthe’s terrible game continued when he crashed into Robert Lewandowski and the striker netted from the penalty kick spot just before the break.
Soon after the interval, the world player of the year scored his 31st of the league season after good work by Jamal Musiala.
Strugglers Hertha Berlin won 3-0 at home to Hoffenheim to move out of the automatic drop zone, in spite of new coach Felix Magath missing the game after contracting coronavirus.
Magath’s new British assistant Mark Fotheringham, relegated with Magath at Fulham in their last job in Europe together in 2014, was in charge on the Hertha Berlin bench and was energetic in his support.
“Mr Magath gave us some positive words and what Mark did on the sidelines was great,” midfielder Marco Richter said. “I don’t know if I should say but Mr Magath also talked to us at half-time (over the telephone).”
VfB Stuttgart stormed back from 2-1 down to win 3-2 at home to Augsburg to leave Hertha Berlin still in the relegation play-off spot.
Mainz beat Arminia Bielefeld 4-0 with goal-line technology wrongly awarding them another goal, which was taken away on video review.
Arminia Bielefeld slipped into the second automatic relegation spot.
They are a point behind Hertha Berlin, who are level on points with Stuttgart and Augsburg.
Rising COVID-19 figures in Germany also played minor havoc with other clubs.
Freiburg missed Nicolas Höfler in their 0-0 draw at bottom side Greuther Fürth and temporarily moved fourth ahead of RB Leipzig welcoming Eintracht Frankfurt on Sunday.
The match between Bochum and Borussia Mönchengladbach on Friday was abandoned after a linesman was hit by a plastic cup thrown from the Bochum fans as Gladbach led 2-0.
