Daily Times

BERLIN: Bayern Munich survived a scare at Wolfsburg to end its winless streak with a 3-1 victory, and league leader Borussia Dortmund continued to impress with a 4-0 win at Stuttgart in the Bundesliga on Saturday. Robert Lewandowski helped Bayern end its four-game run without a win across all competitions with two goals and an assist against his favourite league rival. The Poland striker broke the deadlock on the half-hour mark with a clinical finish and then claimed his 18th goal in 16 appearances against Wolfsburg early in the second half. Brazilian defender William played him in with an attempted back-pass to Koen Casteels and Lewandowski needed no further invitation to pounce.

But Wolfsburg was given hope when Arjen Robben was sent off with his second yellow card in the 57th for a foul on Elvis Rexhbecaj. His first came before the break for diving. Dutch forward Wout Weghorst scored minutes later but James Rodriguez restored the visitors’ two-goal cushion off an assist from Lewandowski shortly after. The win eases some of the pressure on Bayern, which lashed out against unfavorable media coverage in a news conference on Friday.

Dortmund marches on: Stuttgart was hoping for a fresh start under new coach Markus Weinzierl but Dortmund ruined the former Schalke coach’s debut. The visitors stormed into an early three-goal lead through Jadon Sancho, Marco Reus and the outstanding Paco Alcacer. The Spain striker, who scored a hat trick as a substitute on his previous appearance, claimed his seventh goal in four Bundesliga appearances with a delicate chip over Ron-Robert Zieler for 3-0 in the 25th minute. American midfielder Christian Pulisic, who came on as a substitute, set up Maximilian Philipp to wrap up the scoring. Dortmund stayed four points clear of Bayern.

Published in Daily Times, October 21^st 2018.