MUNICH: Bayern Munich were held to a 2-2 home draw with Borussia Dortmund in the Klassiker on Saturday, failing to take advantage of Bayer Leverkusen’s slip-up earlier in the day.
With defending champions Leverkusen held to a scoreless draw at home with Union Berlin just an hour before kickoff, Bayern knew a win would move them further ahead.
Dortmund took the lead through Maximilian Beier in the 48th minute but Bayern, who visit Inter Milan in the Champions League quarter-final return leg on Wednesday after last week’s 2-1 loss, hit back with two goals in four minutes, before Waldemar Anton equalised for the visitors with 15 minutes remaining.
Usually a fixture on the German football calendar, the buzz around the match was comparatively muted as the visitors came to Munich sit nine spots and 27 points behind in the table.
Bayern, enduring an injury crisis with several first teamers missing, were camped out in Dortmund’s box for almost the entire first half. Visiting goalkeeper Gregor Kobel needed to snuff out great chances for Harry Kane and Michael Olise.
Seemingly on the ropes at half-time, Dortmund opened the scoring three minutes into the second period, Beier heading between Bayern goalie Jonas Urbig’s legs to finish off a length-of-the-field counter.
With Dortmund in the ascendancy and probing for a second, Vincent Kompany brought on Serge Gnabry and the move worked a treat.
The former Arsenal forward created the equaliser for former Dortmund midfielder Raphael Guerreiro on the 65-minute mark and then scored a goal of his own four minutes later, slaloming through the visiting defence before hammering home.
Dortmund hit back to level things up 15 minutes from time when Anton knocked in a rebound from a Serhou Guirassy shot.
Despite the draw, Bayern remain heavy favourites to lift the Bundesliga title. The Bavarians have 69 points and are six points ahead with five games remaining this season.
Despite welcoming back star midfielder Florian Wirtz from a foot injury, Xabi Alonso’s Leverkusen lacked fluency in attack, carving out few clear-cut opportunities in a 0-0 home draw with Union Berlin.
“For us it was just not good enough. We were missing energy, especially in the last third of the pitch. We did not create chances,” Alonso told a press conference.
“It [the title race] is not finished yet and we need to keep going. We had a chance today and missed it. Now it’s five points. The feeling is not euphoric. We have to accept it.”
Despite late pressure and a golden chance for Jonathan Tah in stoppage time, Leverkusen could not find a trademark last-gasp winner and dropped valuable points in the title race.
The draw took Union to 34 points, 12 clear of the relegation spots with five games remaining.
Borussia Moenchengladbach’s hopes of returning to the Champions League took a hit with a 2-1 home loss to Freiburg.
Gladbach took the lead after 14 minutes when Freiburg captain Christian Guenter turned the ball into his own net. The visitors levelled two minutes later when Patrick Osterhage headed past Tiago Pereira Cardoso.
Freiburg snatched all three points when Johan Manzambi scored a 90th minute header, allowing the visitors to leapfrog their opponents into sixth.
Augsburg continued their strong 2025 with a 2-1 win at lowly Bochum, moving level on pints with Dortmund. Augsburg have only lost one of their past 13 games.
Elsewhere, Hoffenheim took a step towards beating the drop with a 2-0 home win over Champions League hopefuls Mainz 05, with Andrej Kramaric scoring a brace.
The win sent Hoffenheim eight clear of the relegation spots, while Mainz — who battled relegation a season ago — missed a chance to climb to third on the table and stay fifth, two points behind RB Leipzig.
St Pauli also boosted their hopes of top-division football next season with a 2-1 win over fellow promoted side Holstein Kiel.
On Friday, Netherlands attacker Xavi Simons scored twice as Leipzig held on to beat VfL Wolfsburg 3-2.
Wolfsburg stay in 12th place, six points off the Conference League spots with five games to go after losing a fourth straight game.
Published in Dawn, April 13th, 2025
