Portugal’s Raphaël Guerreiro scored the first goal in Bayern Munich’s 2-0 win over Cologne on matchday 29 of the German soccer league.
With the title all but wrapped up by Bayer Leverkusen – they will be champions if they beat Werder Bremen on Sunday – the Bavarians, now 13 points behind the ‘pharmacists’, are now trying to hold on to second place, which they now occupy in isolation, with three points more than Stuttgart, who play Eintracht Frankfurt later today.
Guerreiro opened the scoring with an excellent shot from outside the area in the 65th minute, with Thomas Müller, after the Portuguese international’s departure, taking advantage of a mistake by the Cologne defense to confirm Bayern’s return to winning ways in the 90th minute, after two defeats in the league, in which Cologne are 17th and penultimate on 22 points, four points off the drop zone.
In the fight for the fourth and final Champions League spot for next season, fourth-placed Leipzig and fifth-placed Borussia Dortmund won to remain level on 56 points, provisionally four behind Stuttgart.
Facing Wolfsburg, who are 15th with 28 points, two above the play-off place, Leipzig managed a quiet 3-0 win, with goals from Dani Olmo (13th minute), Benjamin Sesko (68th) and Lois Openda (82nd).
More complicated was Dortmund’s 2-1 win at Borussia Mönchengladbach, with a brace from Marcel Sabitzer in the 22nd and 28th minutes, the second from the penalty spot, and Maximilian Wober reducing the deficit in the 36th minute.
Borussia Dortmund ended the match down to 10 men after Karim Adeyemi was shown a second yellow card in the 55th minute, but Mönchengladbach were unable to salvage a draw and remain in 11th place on 31 points.
Bochum, with Gonçalo Paciência coming on in the 83rd minute, drew one goal at home to quiet Heidenheim (10th), and picked up a point in the fight to stay in 15th place with 27 points, one more than Mainz, 16th and in play-off position, who won their fourth game in a row without losing, beating Hoffenheim (eighth) 4-1.
