MUNICH: Jamal Musiala came off the bench to rescue an injury-hit Bayern Munich, scoring twice in a 4-2 win over lowly Heidenheim, sending his side six points clear in the Bundesliga on Saturday. With the top four sides all playing teams in the bottom half in this round, Frankfurt let a one-goal lead slip to draw 2-2 at home with Augsburg and lose ground on Bayern. Bayern dominated proceedings but were unable to turn pressure into points, with Harry Kane’s absence telling. The German giants were one goal up at halftime after Dayot Upamecano headed from a corner 18 minutes in.
The France defender turned villain early into the second period when he passed directly to Mathias Honsak, who gleefully accepted the invitation to equalize. Bayern manager Vincent Kompany, whose side were eliminated in the German Cup by Bayer Leverkusen midweek, brought Musiala off the bench and the 21-year-old blasted in five minutes later.
Musiala now has seven goals in the league this season, the most after Kane’s 14. Leon Goretzka’s late goal put Bayern on course but Heidenheim scored again, this time through Niklas Dorsch, to keep the heat on the home side, Musiala would have the final say, dribbling on the counter from the half-way line and scoring his second — and an eighth league goal of the season.
In Frankfurt, a goalless first half gave way to four goals in 19 second-half minutes. Hugo Ekitike’s 55th-minute goal was cancelled out by a Phillip Tietz strike five minutes later. Augsburg then took the lead through Samuel Essende, before Turkish teenager Can Uzun levelled things up three minutes later.
Frankfurt’s late efforts to find a winner were to no avail as the hosts dropped points in the league for the first time since late October. Defending champions Leverkusen continued their recent resurgence, beating promoted St Pauli 2-1 thanks to first-half goals from Florian Wirtz and Jonathan Tah.
Injuries to Victor Boniface, Patrik Schick and Amine Adli deprived Leverkusen coach Xabi Alonso of a centre-forward. Wirtz however filled in nicely, finishing calmly in front of goal after eight minutes before Tah headed in from a cross midway through the second half.
Pauli’s Morgan Guilavogui scored late but it was not enough as Leverkusen held on to win their fifth straight game. RB Leipzig got back to winning ways, defeating promoted Holstein Kiel 2-0 away, their first victory in the league since October.
Benjamin Sesko put the visitors in front 27 minutes in and Andre Silva converted a penalty to seal the game, his first Leipzig goal since January 2023. Jens Stage scored the only goal as Werder Bremen won 1-0 at struggling Bochum, who have only two points in 13 games this season. In Saturday’s late game, Borussia Dortmund travel to Borussia Moenchengladbach. — AFP