European roundup: Bayern beaten again by bogey side Mönchengladbach
Borussia Mönchengladbach beat 10-man Bayern Munich 3-2 on Saturday, stretching their unbeaten run over the Bundesliga champions to five games in all competitions.
Gladbach went ahead through Lars Stindl in the 13th minute after Bayern got off to a nightmare start, with Dayot Upamecano bringing down Alassane Pléa outside the box and being shown a red card in the eighth minute. Stindl missed a golden chance to double their lead in the 24th but sent his close-range shot wide.
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Bayern kept going forward and were rewarded in the 35th minute, Alphonso Davies sprinting down the wing and cutting back for Eric Choupo-Moting to slot in the equaliser with his eighth league goal of the season and leave the game level at half-time.
Bayern fell behind again as Gladbach made their extra man count with a quick passing move, Jonas Hofmann completing it with a cool finish in the 55th minute. The substitute Marcus Thuram made sure of the three points before Mathys Tel pulled back a consolation goal for Bayern in added time.
Defeat for the leaders, who won 1-0 at Paris Saint-Germain in the first leg of their Champions League last-16 tie in midweek, means Union Berlin can retake top spot with a home win over bottom club Schalke on Sunday, while Dortmund can also close the gap at the top.
“We started really well in the first seven minutes and we had two, three chances and should have been 2-0 up. It was undoubtedly our best start of the year but then came the red card and the goal but we still equalised,” said the Bayern coach Julian Nagelsmann.
“In the second half we had the game under control and we were the better side despite being a man down. But then we conceded again and then it was difficult to come back again. In the end we ran out of power for that lucky punch as we had also played with 10 men in Paris.”
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Gladbach, who move up to eighth in the table, have a remarkable recent record against the Bundesliga’s dominant force. The Foals have claimed 10 league wins over Bayern since the 2011-12 season; no other side has more than five in the same period.
Freiburg are three points behind Bayern in fourth place after upsetting the form book against Bochum, securing a 2-0 away win against a team with five straight home league wins before Saturday. Michael Gregoritsch broke the deadlock from a corner before Lucas Höler’s header ended a run of three consecutive away defeats.
RB Leipzig are in fifth, four points off the top in a crowded title race, after winning 3-0 at Wolfsburg. Emil Forsberg’s low drive put the visitors in front early on, before late goals from Konrad Laimer and Dominik Szoboszlai secured victory as Chelsea-bound striker Christopher Nkunku returned from injury.
Eintracht Frankfurt bounced back from last week’s defeat to Cologne as they eased past Werder Bremen 2-0 courtesy of an own goal and Randal Kolo Muani’s 10th league goal of the season to cut the gap to the top spots. Gil Dias, Borna Sosa and Tanguy Coulibaly were on target as Stuttgart cruised to a 3-0 win at home to Cologne.
Federico Valverde celebrates after breaking the deadlock for Real Madrid against Osasuna, scoring in the 78th minute as Real went on to win 2-0. Photograph: Soccrates Images/Getty Images
In Italy, Junior Messias scored as Milan grabbed a 1-0 win at Monza in a lively Serie A clash, lifting Stefano Pioli’s side back into a Champions League qualification spot. Messias put Milan in front just after the half-hour mark, lashing home a ball that Michele Di Gregorio could not keep out.
“When you need to defend you have to do it all together and we’ve been doing that for a few games now,” Pioli said. “We could have done even better because Monza played a great second half and it was a very demanding week for us.”
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Internazionale clinched a 3-1 victory over Udinese. Romelu Lukaku’s first-half penalty was cancelled out by Udinese’s Sandi Lovric before half-time, but Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Lautaro Martínez added further goals for Simone Inzaghi’s team in the second period.
Abdelhamid Sabiri scored one penalty but missed a second as Sampdoria squandered a chance to boost their hopes of avoiding relegation by going down 2-1 at home to Bologna.
Sabiri had only just come on as a substitute when he converted from the spot in the 68th minute following a foul by Jhon Lucumí to cancel out Roberto Soriano’s early goal. Sabiri stepped up again three minutes later but his effort was saved by Lukasz Skorupski and that proved costly as Riccardo Orsolini grabbed a last-minute winner.
The result leaves Sampdoria eight points adrift of safety while Bologna are up to seventh.
In Spain, Real Madrid scored two late goals to win 2-0 at Osasuna and close the gap on the leaders Barcelona to five points. Barça host Cadiz on Sunday
Federico Valverde broke the deadlock for Carlo Ancelotti’s team in the 78th minute and Marco Asensio made sure with a second in time added on.
Robin Le Normand’s injury-time own goal saw Real Sociedad held to a frustrating 1-1 draw at home to 10-man Celta Vigo. Sociedad had led for 88 minutes after Mikel Oyarzabal had given them an early lead but Celta Vigo salvaged a point despite having substitute Renato Tapia sent off for two bookable offences within a minute.
Real Betis remain fifth after goals from Sergio Canales and Juanmi secured a 2-1 home win over Valladolid while Vedat Muriqi and Daniel Rodríguez both scored twice as Real Mallorca won 4-2 against a battling Villarreal who played with 10 men for 70 minutes after Manu Trigueros was sent off.