Manager's magic touch guides Munich giant to 7th straight win

BERLIN - Jupp Heynckes praised his Bayern Munich stars as well as the club's hard-pressed medics for turning a five-point deficit into a four-point lead over its Bundesliga rival with Saturday's 3-1 win at Borussia Dortmund.

Arjen Robben, Robert Lewandowski and David Alaba netted the goals as Heynckes's magic touch worked again, four weeks after Carlo Ancelotti was fired.

Under the 72-year-old Heynckes, who steered Bayern to the 2013 treble, the Munich giant has won all seven games in the Champions League, Bundesliga and German Cup.

It now leads second-place RB Leipzig by four points and is six ahead of third-place Dortmund.

"We shouldn't get carried away. It was impossible to predict four weeks ago that we would now be six points ahead of Dortmund and four ahead of Leipzig," said Heynckes.

"We have worked outstandingly on the training field and in meetings over the past four and a half weeks.

"I also have to compliment our medical department. The doctors and the physios also worked day and night because the players have been heavily burdened with a lot of matches."

None more so than striker Robert Lewandowski, who missed Tuesday's Champions League win at Celtic with a thigh strain, yet dazzled against his ex-club Dortmund.

A superb curling strike from Robben put Bayern ahead in the 17th minute before Lewandowski's audacious backheel made it 2-0 eight minutes before the break.

"It was a very attack-minded game, both teams had lots of chances, but we scored three goals," said Lewandowski. "That was an important win, we showed that we are in good shape."

Alaba put the game beyond Dortmund midway through the second half as his cross found the net after the ball glanced off Lewandowski.

"I touched the ball lightly," said Lewandowski. "Whether it's my goal or not, that does not matter at the moment."

Marc Bartra, the defender who was injured in April's bomb attack on the Dortmund team bus, scored the hosts' consolation goal two minutes from time.

The second goal credited to Lewandowski was his 11th in the league in as many games this season. He is currently the Bundesliga's top scorer.

Dortmund's Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, the top scorer last season in Germany just ahead of Lewandowski, has now failed to score in five straight games, although he still has 10 for the season.

Dortmund has now won just one of its past seven games in all competitions, a miserable run which leaves it also facing a group-stage exit from the Champions League, where it has just two points from four games.

"We did not play like a top team," said coach Peter Bosz.

"Bayern Munich was better in all areas in the first half. We just chased after them and were always too late, so you can't talk about us being a top team.

"We decided to play very compact, but that did not work in the first half.

"In the second half, we showed that we can. Once each player got closer to his man, it was a real game."

Bosz, who replaced the fired Thomas Tuchel for this season, is starting to look -and sound - like a man on borrowed time.

"We have six or seven months left in the Bundesliga. We will try to come back," he said, with no air of confidence.

"At the beginning of the season we showed that we have a good team and are good at playing football," he said after he won six of his first seven German league games.

Agence France-presse

(China Daily 11/06/2017 page24)