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BUNDESLIGA ROUNDUP: INJURY-HIT BAYERN HELD BY UNION BERLIN AHEAD UCL CLASH WITH PSG

Depleted Bayern Munich were held to a 1-1 draw at home by Union Berlin in the Bundesliga on Saturday, three days before their Champions League return leg at Paris Saint-Germain.

Teenager Jamal Musiala beat three defenders to give Bayern the lead midway through the second half at the Allianz Arena only for Marcus Ingvartsen to equalise for Union four minutes from time.

“That is very annoying,” Bayern goalkeeper Manuel Neuer told Sky. “We played well over long stretches and would have deserved the victory.”

In Paris on Tuesday, European champions Bayern need to overturn a 3-2 first-leg defeat in the quarter-finals and started reserve team players Tiago Dantas, on a season-long loan from Benfica, and Josip Stanisic against Union.

The club world champions have nine players sidelined, including injured top-scorer Robert Lewandowski and winger Serge Gnabry, who was quarantined after testing positive for Covid-19.

Musiala showed great footwork to pick his way through the Union defence for the opening goal, only for Ingvartsen to beat Stanisic to the ball and grab the visitors’ late equaliser.

Off the field, tensions are brewing between sporting director Hasan Salihamidzic and coach Hansi Flick, who has Neuer’s backing.

“I think Hansi Flick is the right coach for us,” said Neuer.

The draw trims Bayern’s lead at the top of the Bundesliga table to five points ahead of second-placed RB Leipzig, who romped to a 4-1 win at Werder Bremen.

Leipzig dominated throughout and raced into a 3-0 lead as Dani Olmo gave them the lead before Alexander Sorloth netted twice.

Although Milot Rashica pulled a goal back for Bremen, Marcel Sabitzer made it 4-1 midway through the second half.

The sides meet again in Bremen on April 30 in the German Cup semi-finals.

Eintracht Frankfurt took another key step towards reaching the Champions League for the first time since 1960 with a thrilling 4-3 home win over Wolfsburg.

Daichi Kamada, Luka Jovic, Andre Silva and Erik Durm all netted for Frankfurt.

Third-placed Wolfsburg pulled goals back through Ridle Baku and Wout Weghorst before Frankfurt’s Brazilian defender Tuta turned the ball into his own net for an own goal five minutes from time.

Knauff rescues Dortmund

The result leaves Frankfurt with a seven-point cushion in fourth after fifth-placed Borussia Dortmund, later earned a dramatic 3-2 win at Stuttgart.

Dortmund need to overturn a 2-1 first leg defeat at home to Manchester City on Wednesday in the Champions League.

Substitute striker Ansgar Knauff came off the bench to score Dortmund’s winner on only his third league appearance.

The 19-year-old, who made his Champions League debut in the defeat at City after being promoted from the reserves, dribbled clear following Erling Braut Haaland’s pass to score his first Bundesliga goal.

“It’s been an unbelievable week with my Champions League debut and first Bundesliga goal,” said Knauff. “I hope things keep going so well.”

This was Haaland’s sixth game without a goal for club or country, but he claimed two assists.

The visitors were 1-0 down at half-time, but after Jude Bellingham equalised, Haaland left the ball for Marco Reus to put Dortmund 2-1 up.

Daniel Didavi fired Stuttgart level before Knauff hit the winner 10 minutes from time as Dortmund avenged their 5-1 thrashing at home by Stuttgart last December.

Borussia Moenchengladbach earned a 2-2 draw at Hertha Berlin despite playing 77 minutes a man down after goalkeeper Yann Sommer was shown an early red card for fouling Jhon Cordoba.

Goals by forwards Alassane Plea and Lars Stindl had put Gladbach in control after Santiago Ascacibar gave Hertha the lead with a superb strike, before Cordoba equalised just after the break.

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UCL: MBAPPE ON THE DOUBLE AS PSG BEAT BAYERN 3-2 IN QUARTER FINAL FIRST LEG

Kylian Mbappe scored twice as Paris Saint-Germain beat Bayern Munich 3-2 in a thrilling first leg of their Champions League quarterfinal tie in Munich on Wednesday.

Mbappe’s goals bracketed strikes from Marquinhos, Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting and Thomas Muller to give the defending champions — who were without star striker Robert Lewandowski — a steep hill to climb for the return leg in Paris next week.

PSG went ahead just three minutes after the opening whistle with a quick counter-attack that the excellent Mbappe finished off after Neymar rolled the ball into his path on the right.

The visitors had the goal in the net in the 12th minute through Julian Draxler, but the side judge rightly ruled Mbappe offside in the build up.

PSG went two goals in front after 28 minutes when Marquinhos settled and stroked home from a smart Neymar pass that caught the Bayern back line out of position.

Bayern, who’d peppered PSG with shots all night, got a deserved goal through Choupo-Moting in the 37th minute, and tied the game in the 60th minute with a characteristic Muller header in the box.

Mbappe, though, put the Parisians ahead for good eight minutes later with a fine individual effort from another counter-attack — the World Cup winner cutting in from the left and beating Manuel Neuer at the near post.

The goals marked the young France international’s seventh in the Champions League knockout stages, passing Zlatan Ibrahimovic for the most in PSG history. The brace — his third in the UCL knockouts — also tied Borussia Dortmund’s Erling Haaland for the second most by a player before turning 23 in the competition’s history. Lionel Messi had four such games.

“It was a difficult game against the best team in Europe right now,” Mbappe said after the match. “But it is just the first game. [Next week] we have to play with confidence and play again like a team.”

“It was a superb team performance above all, and I benefited from that. We suffered, but we suffered as a team.”

Bayern’s Muller rued the number of missed chances after the game.

“We should have scored far more goals,” Mueller said. “Of course, we can talk about conceding goals, but if you win 6-3 or 5-3 then no one can complain.

“If we had shown the killer instinct that characterises us then it would have been a different game.”
ESPN

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ALPHONSO DAVIES BECOMES UNHCR AMBASSADOR

Alphonso Davies, the nascent Bayern Munich and Canada left-back, has become the first footballer ever to be a Global Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

Davies has shot to prominence as one of the best young players in world football, the 20-year-old voted into last year’s UEFA Champions League squad of the season having made Bayern’s left-back spot his own on the way to the club’s second continental treble.

It wasn’t always such plain sailing for Davies, though, whose family left Liberia for Ghana as refugees before emigrating to Canada when the player was five years old.

“I’m proud to join the UN Refugee Agency as a Goodwill Ambassador,” Davies told unhcr.org. “My own experiences make me want to speak up for refugees, to share their stories and to help make a difference.

“Whilst the refugee camp provided a safe place for my family when they fled war, I often wonder where I would have been if I had stayed there and not benefited from the opportunities I got thanks to resettlement. I don’t think I would have made it to where I am today.”

Davies has featured in 27 games in all competitions for Bayern this season, but has been similarly busy away from the field, helping Canadian Government launch their Together for Learning campaign in February before connecting with three young refugees in Liberia, Canada and Germany – in a video launched by UNHCR in collaboration with 433 – in March.

“I want people to know about the importance of helping refugees, wherever they are, in camps or cities, in neighboring countries or countries of resettlement such as Canada,” Davies said.

“Refugees need our support to survive, but also access to education and sports, so they can fulfill their potential and truly thrive.”

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LEWANDOWSKI ON A HAT-TRICK AS BAYERN THRASH STUTTGART 4-0

German champions and leaders Bayern Munich retained their four-point cushion at the top of the Bundesliga with a 4-0 home rout of VfB Stuttgart on Saturday with Robert Lewandowski netting a hat trick after they had Alphonso Davies sent off early on.

The result left Bayern top on 61 points from 26 games with second-placed RB Leipzig on 57 ahead of their highly anticipated clash on April 3 after the international break.

Bayern coach Hansi flick congratulated his team after a stunning first-half performance which made Stuttgart look like they were a man down, with the home side dominating after Davies was given his marching orders.

“Big congratulations to my team, we controlled the game as we remained sound defensively while we took our chances well in attack,” Flick told a news conference.

“It’s not good that Davies picked up a red card so early in the game but the team responded really well, we stayed compact at the back and hit them at the other end.”

Canada international left-back Davies was shown a straight red card in the 12th minute for a studs-up challenge on Wataru Endo, with the referee initially brandishing a yellow and then reversed his decision after a VAR check.

The dismissal only galvanised Bayern with Lewandowski firing them ahead five minutes later, as he slid in at the near post ahead of his marker to fire home a low Serge Gnabry cross from the right flank.

Gnabry made it 2-0 in the 22nd after a sweeping move involving Thomas Mueller and Leroy Sane before Lewandowski added the third less than 60 seconds later when he rose to head home a Mueller cross from the right.

The Poland striker added some gloss in the 39th with a clinical left-footed finish from inside the penalty area as he pounced on sloppy defending by Stuttgart after Sane’s jinking run down the right flank.

Bayern took their feet off the pedal in the second half but despite their numerical disadvantage, they still dominated as Lewandowski and Gnabry missed chances to give them an even bigger win against the hapless visitors.

Lewandowski’s hat trick made him the joint second top scorer in Bundesliga history with 268 goals alongside Klaus Fischer, behind Bayern’s iconic former striker Gerd Mueller who scored 365.

It also means he is now just five goals off equalling Mueller’s record for the most goals scored in a single top-flight season in Germany.

Lewandowski hailed Fischer and said he hoped his individual exploits would help the German and European club champions win more silverware.

“I am proud to reach a number of 268 goals in the Bundesliga like the legendary Klaus Fischer,” he said on Twitter. “I always want my goals to help us win new titles with Bayern.”

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UCL 2021 QUARTER FINAL DRAW: LIVERPOOL DRAW REAL MADRID, BAYERN FACE PSG

UEFA held the draw for the 2020-21 Champions League quarterfinals Friday, with defending champion Bayern Munich receiving a matchup with last year’s fellow finalist Paris Saint-Germain.
Here’s a look at the full results from the draw:

Quarterfinal 1: Manchester City vs. Borussia Dortmund
Quarterfinal 2: Porto vs. Chelsea
Quarterfinal 3: Bayern Munich vs. Paris Saint-Germain
Quarterfinal 4: Real Madrid vs. Liverpool

And here’s the semifinal bracket order:

Winner of Quarterfinal 3 vs. Winner of Quarterfinal 1
Winner of Quarterfinal 4 vs. Winner of Quarterfinal 2
The quarterfinal matches will take place April 6-7 and April 13-14. The complete fixture schedule will be released later Friday.

A two-leg rematch of last season’s final between Bayern and PSG should be a treat for football fans with both clubs coming off dominant performances in the round of 16.

The German side cruised to a 6-2 aggregate triumph over Lazio, while the French team eased past Barcelona 5-2 on aggregate on the strength of a 4-1 win in the first leg.

Bayern striker Robert Lewandowski explained coming into the campaign the club faced a lot of pressure to live up to the high standard it set by winning the treble last term.

“If you play so good in the last season, then everyone is looking at you now and how you will be in the new season,” Lewandowski told reporters in September. “And if you are on the top you have to work harder to stay longer on the top. And I think so for us that is the big challenge for this season.”

So far the Bavarians have lived up to those expectations as they sit atop the Bundesliga table with 58 points, four points clear of second-place RB Leipzig, while also having captured the DFL-Supercup in September and staying alive to the quarterfinals of the Champions League.

The matchup with Paris Saint-Germain represents their toughest test to date, though.

While the winner of the Bayern-PSG quarterfinal may be viewed as the tournament favorite heading toward the semifinals, this is a deep field littered with legitimate title contenders.

Six of the eight clubs have clear title hopes and even the two longer shots, Dortmund and Porto, have enough attacking firepower to make a run to the final.

It sets the stage for an entertaining, highly competitive finish to this year’s Champions League over the next two months.

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HOLDERS BAYERN MUNICH EASE PAST LAZIO TO REACH UCL QUARTER FINAL.

Bayern Munich breezed into the Champions League quarter-finals after a comfortable win over Lazio.

The defending champions reached the last eight with a 2-1 victory at the Allianz Arena on Wednesday.

Robert Lewandowski’s first-half penalty and Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting’s goal eased them to an 6-2 aggregate win to keep them on course for a seventh title.

Marco Parolo did pull a late goal back for spirited Lazio but they never looked like fighting back from their first-leg defeat.

Leading 4-1 from the first leg after a thumping win in Rome Bayern went for the kill and Leroy Sane bent an effort wide after 13 minutes.

Bayern have not lost to an Italian side at home for 10 years and the unbeaten streak was never in doubt once the visitors conceded a penalty after 31 minutes.

Vedat Muriqi hauled Leon Goretzka down from a corner and Lewandowski sent Pepe Reina the wrong way from the spot.

It was the striker’s 39th club goal of another prolific season – his 73rd in the Champions League – and gave Lazio too much to do to recover.

There was little fightback from the Italians and Reina stopped them falling further behind when he denied Lewandowski just after half-time.

Bayern pressed well with former Manchester City wideman Sane a danger on the right and Lewandowski came closer to his second after 67 minutes.

A slick move left the striker free on the edge of the box and his low drive thumped the base of the post.

Alex Nubel saved well from Joaquin Correa from a rare Lazio opening but Bayern made it 2-0 on the night when they sliced through the visitors with 17 minutes left.

David Alaba picked out Choupo-Moting and his clipped finish beat the onrushing Reina.

But Lazio grabbed a consolation with eight minutes left when Parolo headed in Andreas Pereira’s deep free-kick from close range.

Serge Gnabry should have made it 3-1, only to shoot tamely wide after being found by Sane with two minutes left.

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Bayern Confirm Interest In Dortmund Striker Haaland

Bundesliga giants Bayern Munich confirmed their interest in Borussia Dortmund striker Erling Haaland as manager Hansi Flick admitted a transfer is ‘very much possible’.

Haaland has emerged as one of the hottest commodities in Europe, and put it on full display against Bayern at the weekend.

The Norwegian international scored twice in nine minutes to stun Bayern into an early deficit.

Bayern manager Flick was asked about Haaland one day replacing Lewandowski, with a deal far from out the picture.

He told Sky Germany before the game: “Very, very much is possible in life, nothing can be ruled out.

“But that is a long way off. He has a long-term contract in Dortmund and is an option for many top clubs.”

Bayern prized Lewandowski away from their rivals in 2014, having also done the same with Mario Gotze and Mats Hummels.

But Gotze and Hummels both ended up returning to Dortmund.

Bayern are not the only ones interested in 20-year-old Haaland, who improved to 19 goals in as many Bundesliga games.

Manchester United last season failed in a move for the forward, despite Ole Gunnar Solskjaer meeting with the player.

And now United are joined by City and Chelsea in the pursuit for the serial goalscorer.

Real Madrid are also linked with Haaland, with the view of replacing frontman Karim Benzema, 34.

Haaland’s contract expires in 2024, but a £65million release clause is understood to come into play two years beforehand.

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ROBERT LEWANDOWSKI HATRICK STUNS DORTMUND IN KLASSIKER THRILLER

Robert Lewandowski scored a hat-trick to leave him on 31 Bundesliga goals this season and seal Bayern Munich’s 4-2 comeback win over Borussia Dortmund in Germany’s ‘Klassiker’.

Dortmund raced into a 2-0 lead as Erling Haaland netted twice in the first nine minutes behind closed doors at the Allianz Arena.

However, Lewandowksi then struck twice, the second from the penalty spot, to haul Bayern level before the break.

Leon Goretzka put Bayern ahead for the first time with two minutes left before Lewandowski completed his hat-trick on 90 minutes.

“The quality is certainly there, that’s our DNA,” said Thomas Muller of Bayern’s fightback.

The win leaves Bayern two points clear of RB Leipzig at the top of the table.

“We shook ourselves up at 2-0 down and deserved to win because we were the dominant team for (the last) 60 minutes,” said Bayern coach Hansi Flick.

Bayern have won the last five meetings between the clubs.

“We weren’t good enough. We started well, but didn’t play good enough football. We should have been more brave,” said Dortmund midfielder Emre Can.

The match delivered on its billing as the battle of the Bundesliga’s star strikers.

Haaland scored with just two minutes gone when his shot clipped the heel of Jerome Boateng.

Bayern were reeling after nine minutes when Thorgan Hazard flicked the ball back inside for Haaland to again smash the ball home.

Dortmund could have been 3-0 up on 25 minutes but Thomas Meunier squandered the chance to shoot.

A minute later, Bayern pulled a goal back when Leroy Sane squared the ball for Lewandowski to score.

Bayern went into the break level when Mahmoud Dahoud brought down Kingsley Coman in the area and Lewandowski converted the penalty.

After a frantic first-half, the tempo dropped in the second as both teams suffered key injuries.

“We started great and ended very badly,” admitted Dortmund coach Edin Terzic.

Haaland came off after an hour gone with a cut on the back of his ankle.

With ten minutes left, Boateng had to be helped off in clear discomfort after twisting his knee.

Dortmund were left fuming for what captain Marco Reus claimed was a foul on Can late on.

“It was a clear foul – if that had been against Bayern, it would have been given,” fumed Marco Reus.

Bayern settled the matter when Goretzka pinged his shot in off the post before Lewandowski completed his hat-trick with an outstanding low drive.

With ten games left, Lewandowski threatens to break Gerd Mueller’s all-time record of 40 Bundesliga goals in the 1971/72 season.

Earlier, RB Leipzig briefly climbed top of the table with a 3-0 romp at Freiburg thanks to goals by Christopher Nkunku, Alexander Sorloth and Emil Forsberg.

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LEWANDOWSKI, GNABRY ON TARGET AS BAYERN CRUSH COLOGNE

Bundesliga top scorer Robert Lewandowski and Serge Gnabry both struck twice as Bayern Munich crushed Cologne 5-1 in the Bundesliga on Saturday to earn their first win in three league games and go five points clear at the top.

The champions, who next week face Borussia Dortmund, are on 52 points, with Leipzig, second on 47, taking on Borussia Monchengladbach later on Saturday.

VfL Wolfsburg remained in third place with a 2-0 victory over Hertha Berlin.

Apart from Lewandowski and Gnabry, Bayern were also indebted to Leon Goretzka who delivered another silky performance with three assists.

Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting opened the champions’ account with his first league goal this season, heading in Leon Goretzka’s cross at the far post in the 18th minute.

Lewandowski struck 15 minutes later, combining with Goretzka after a bad pass back from Cologne and the Pole made it 28 league goals from an assist by Thomas Mueller, seconds after the midfielder came on in the 65th minute following a coronavirus infection.

Mueller is the league’s top provider with 11 assists while Lewandowski is looking to break Gerd Mueller’s record of 40 league goals in one season dating back to the 1971-72 campaign.

Substitute Gnabry completed the rout with two late goals in four minutes.

‘For our way forward we have to stop having these shaky periods during the match,’ Gnabry said. ‘We have to reduce them and then we will be stronger.’

Such phases during their recent games have proved costly for Bayern, including a 3-3 against strugglers Arminia Bielefeld two weeks ago and their 2-1 loss to Eintracht Frankfurt last week.

Cologne had briefly cut the deficit four minutes after the restart with Ellyes Skhiri making the most of blunders by three Bayern defenders.

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DAVID ALABA ANNOUNCES DEPARTURE FROM BAYERN MUNICH AT THE END OF SEASON

David Alaba has announced he will leave Bayern Munich at the end of the season.

The 28-year-old has spent the last decade with the Bundesliga champions and played a key role in their Champions League success in August.

After discussions with the club over a new deal, the Austria international has decided against extending his current terms and will become a free agent in the summer.

In a press conference, Alaba said: “I have made the decision to leave Bayern at the end of this season and try something new.

“It obviously wasn’t an easy decision – I’ve been here for 13 years and the club means a lot to me.

“I haven’t decided where I’m going next.”

Alaba, linked with a move to Real Madrid, started his career with Austria Wien before he made the move to Germany in 2008.

During a glittering spell at the Allianz Arena, he has won 24 trophies and Bayern remain on course to secure another Bundesliga title this season while they have progressed into the Champions League knockout stage.