Lewy the hero as Reds overcome Dortmund

FC Bayern beat Borussia Dortmund 4-2 on Saturday evening, sealing three crucial points. Erling Haaland handed Borussia an early two-goal lead, but Bayern mounted an impressive comeback. Robert Lewandowski pulled one back and levelled the scores from the penalty spot with the half-time whistle imminent. Towards the end it looked like the two sides would share the spoils, but Leon Goretzka scored a crucial third, Lewandowski almost immediately rounding off his hat-trick to put the game to bed.

The Bavarians started with Manuel Neuer in goal and Niklas Süle, Jérôme Boateng, David Alaba and Alphonso Davies in a back four. Joshua Kimmich and Goretzka featured in a twin holding role behind Leroy Sané, Thomas Müller and Kingsley Coman, with target man Lewandowski up front. Serge Gnabry and Javi Martínez took over from Coman and Boateng midway through the second half.

A tale of two strikers

The match began with an early shock. 75 seconds had been played when Haaland let fly from 20 yards and found the net with the help of a deflection. Munich dominated possession but Dortmund were clinical, and Bayern were caught cold for a second time when Nico Schulz teed up Thorgan Hazard, who squared to Haaland, the forward slotting home from close distance to round off his brace.

Bayern slowly but surely got a grip, and Sané directed a header onto the roof of the net before Lewandowski hit the side-netting. Hansi Flick's troops pulled one back when Sané's low cross invited Lewandowski to tap in. Borussia dropped deeper and deeper now, Lewandowski seeing an effort blocked and firing over the bar, but Dahoud soon upended Coman in the box, Lewandowski converting the penalty to level the scores before half-time.

Late reward

Munich were in command after the restart, although the first chance fell to the Ruhr valley outfit, Hazard hitting the side-netting. Keeper Karwin Hitz parried a Kimmich shot and only just beat the onrushing Coman to the ball.

Süle headed over the bar and Lewandowski miscued from 20 yards before Hitz saved a deflected Gnabry shot. Bayern upped the pressure in search of the late winner, Kimmich seeing an effort blocked, but Goretzka rewarded their pressure when he blasted into the bottom left corner following a mix-up in the box. Lewandowski closed out the meeting two minutes later, beating Hitz from 20 yards, and match official Marco Fritz blew for half-time.

The result means Bayern have 55 points from 24 matches, two clear of Leipzig, who beat Freiburg. The spotlight remains on the Bundesliga for the next week, with the German record champions visiting Werder Bremen next Saturday.

Live match report for fcbayern.com by Greg Salmen