Caretaker boss Jupp Heynckes made a winning start to his second spell in charge at Bayern, the champions chalking up a hard-fought 2-1 home win against struggling Monchengladbach to keep up the pressure on Bundesliga leaders Wolfsburg.
The 69,000 full house at the Allianz Arena witnessed a one-sided first half in which Bastian Schweinsteiger opened the scoring, only for Filip Daems to level from the spot against the run of play. Hamit Altintop restored Bayern’s lead before the break, but although Munich created chances galore after the restart, the champions found highly-rated Borussia keeper Logan Bailly in blinding form.
The missed openings were ultimately of no consequence as the men in red survived a late Gladbach rally with some ease to seal another vital three points. The result sees Munich strengthen their grip on second spot with 57 points from 30 games. Wolfsburg beat luckless Hoffenheim 4-0 to remain three clear at the top, with Stuttgart now two off Bayern in third after a 2-2 draw away to Bielefeld. Hamburg, fifth on 54 points, entertain fourth-placed Hertha (55 points) on Sunday.
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