Bayern Munich suffered a jolt to their title de-fence, losing their first league game of the season 5-1 in Frankfurt on Saturday while RB Leipzig triumphed 3-2 at 10-men Borussia Dortmund.
In a wet and wild contest in Frankfurt, the hosts raced into an extraordinary 3-0 first-half lead, with Omar Marmoush, Junior Dina Ebimbe, and Hugo Larsson scoring the goals as Dino Toppmoeller’s side outmuscled a timid Bayern.
Joshua Kimmich dragged Bayern back into the match just before half-time but French midfielder Ebimbe had other ideas, capping a scintillating counter-attack after a mistake by Dayot Upamecano to make it four.
Ansgar Knauff added a fifth to put the game out of reach for Thomas Tuchel’s side to complete a memorable performance for Frankfurt, who become the first team to score five goals against Bayern in the first 60 minutes of a league game since Frankfurt themselves, in 1975.
A stunned Tuchel said after the game that his side were punished by a Frankfurt team who were callous in front of goal.
“We didn’t defend consistently and were pun-ished mercilessly today,” Tuchel told German broadcaster ARD.
“That’s why this result is very difficult to digest on the scoreboard. We deserved to lose. Not 5-1, but we deserved to lose. That is the bottom line.”
Leaders Bayer Leverkusen retain their three-point cushion and travel to third-place Stuttgart on Sunday on a weekend when six of the Bundesliga’s top seven face each other.
In a game contested between two sides in the chasing pack, Leipzig beat Dortmund in an absorbing contest at Signal Iduna Park.
Dortmund were dealt an early blow with Mats Hummels’ red card, which denied the visitors a penalty but they went on to take the lead in the 32nd minute through a Ramy Bensebaini own goal.
Ten-man Dortmund clawed their way back into the contest through Niklas Suele’s close-range finish on the stroke of half-time – but Leipzig’s Austrian forward Christoph Baumgartner tapped in to put Leipzig back in front early in the second half.
Yussuf Poulsen struck as the clock ticked into injury time to make it three goals and three points, keeping Leipzig fourth and opening a gap of four points to fifth-placed Dortmund, despite Niclas Fuellkrug’s late header briefly giving Dortmund hope.
“These were important three points today. Very hard-earned. Really hard for the coach too. It’s difficult to analyse emotionally,” Marco Rose, formerly the coach of Dortmund, and now in charge of Leipzig, told ARD.
A despondent Dortmund coach Edin Terzic referenced the red card for Hummels as the game’s turning point: “It’s not easy to play against RB Leipzig, especially when you’re outnumbered. You saw that we got off to a really good start, were very dominant… after the red card it was a completely different game.—AFP
