European football: Bayern sink Cologne to delay Leverkusen’s coronation

  • 4/13/2024
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Bayern Munich struck twice in the second half to earn a 2-0 win over Cologne and bounce back from two straight league losses, delaying Bayer Leverkusen the title for 24 hours at least. Xabi Alonso’s side are 13 points ahead and poised to wrap up their first championship with a win over Werder Bremen on Sunday. Bayern’s only hope of silverware this season rests with the Champions League and they host Arsenal on Wednesday in their quarter-final second leg, after the 2-2 draw in London last Tuesday. They suffered a serious injury blow against Cologne, however, with the winger Kingsley Coman taken off in the 50th minute and ruled out for several weeks with an adductor muscle injury. “The injury of Kingsley is extremely bitter with him starting a game today after a very long time,” Thomas Tuchel, the Bayern coach, said. “It looked extremely painful on TV and it certainly won’t be enough for Wednesday. In quarter-final you want to have the choice options. Maybe you need to play 120 minutes. It’s a big blow for us.” Bayern broke the deadlock through Raphaël Guerreiro’s superb curling shot in the 65th minute from 20 metres. They still needed an 89th-minute save from keeper Sven Ulreich to protect their lead before Thomas Müller scored in stoppage time after a Cologne defensive error to seal the win. With five league matches left, Bayern are second in the Bundesliga on 63 points. Stuttgart remain level on points with Bayern after their 3-0 win over Eintracht Frankfurt. RB Leipzig, 3-0 winners over Wolfsburg, are fourth on 56 points, ahead on goal difference of Borussia Dortmund, who host Atlético Madrid in their Champions League quarter-final second leg on Tuesday, trailing 2-1. Juventus’s hopes of wining the Italian Serie A ended after a 0-0 draw at their city rivals, Torino. Juventus are third on 63 points from 32 games with six matches left to play, 19 behind the leaders, Internazionale, who host Cagliari on Sunday. Juve, Italian champions a record 36 times, won the title nine times in a row from 2012-2020 but have not lifted the trophy since. “It’s a point … we accept it,” Juventus’s coach, Massimiliano Allegri, said. “There’s always the disappointment of not having scored three, but if we hadn’t lost games we would have been in a better place. Today we take it, we have to improve things.” They remained winless on the road since late January, when they beat Lecce 3-0, and have gone five away games in a row without victory in a single domestic season for the first time since 2010. Bologna remain four points behind Juventus in fourth place after they were also held to a goalless draw at home to Monza while Lecce pulled clear of the relegation zone thanks to a 1-0 win over Empoli. Aurélien Tchouaméni struck early in the second half to give Real Madrid a 1-0 win at Mallorca in La Liga as they rested key players before their Champions League quarter-final second leg against Manchester City. Carlo Ancelotti made five changes to the starting line-up who were held 3-3 by City in the first leg on Tuesday, leaving out Vinícius Júnior, Rodrygo and Toni Kroos. Real dominated but the closest they came to breaking the deadlock in the first half was a shot from Jude Bellingham which hit the bar. Tchouaméni scored the only goal in the 48th minute with a thunderous shot from outside the penalty area. Barcelona remain eight points behind Real – who they face in El Clasico next weekend – after João Félix netted a brilliant bicycle kick to earn them a 1-0 win at relegation-threatened Cádiz. Xavi Hernández rested key players before their Champions League quarter-final against Paris St Germain and Barcelona toiled for much of the match. Félix scored the winner in the 37th minute with a stunning strike, pouncing on a rebound from a corner to acrobatically volley home between two defenders. Antoine Griezmann scored twice as Atlético Madrid overcame an early scare to beat Girona 3-1. It was another setback for Girona, who led the table for several weeks in the first half of the season but have ran out of steam recently, losing five consecutive matches away from home. Artem Dovbyk netted his 17th goal of the season with a tap-in from a counterattack to give Girona the lead in the fourth minute. But Atlético took control of the match, dominated possession and equalised with Griezmann from the penalty spot, after a handball by Miguel Gutiérrez. Six minutes into stoppage time before the break, Álvaro Morata crossed to Ángel Correa who nodded a towering header into the far corner to give Atlético the lead. The hosts doubled their advantage five minutes into the second half when Jhon Solís sliced a clearance and Griezmann pounced on the loose ball inside the six-yard-box to unleash an unstoppable strike that went in off the crossbar.

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