Berlin: Two-goal Franck Ribery set champions Bayern Munich on their way to a 3-0 win at Eintracht Frankfurt to move second behind leaders Borussia Dortmund in the Bundesliga on Saturday.
Ribery’s goals in the 35th and 79th minutes followed by an 89th-minute lob by Rafinha made it an emphatic victory for Bayern coach Niko Kovac against his former club.
Dortmund, who beat Borussia Moenchengladbach on Friday, go into the winter break on 42 points, six ahead of Bayern and nine up on Gladbach. Ribery, who struck a late winner in a 1-0 defeat of Leipzig on Wednesday, found himself free in front of goal from Robert Lewandowski’s cutback to open the scoring.
His second came after a one-two with Joshua Kimmich, the 35-year-old French winger then scoring off via the post with a right-foot shot he scuffed onto his left foot. Defender Rafinha completed the scoring with a shot from the right which floated over keeper Kevin Trapp.
“We had a complicated phase but we reacted well,” Ribery told Sky television.
Midfielder Thomas Mueller said: “Winning 3-0 in Frankfurt is really something. It gives us a lot of encouragement for the second half of the season.”
Leipzig meanwhile scored a late winner for a 3-2 defeat of Werder Bremen to stay fourth, two points behind Moenchengladbach and four ahead of Frankfurt.
Elswehere, Kai Havertz scored twice as Bayer Leverkusen defeated Hertha Berlin 3-1 in a boost for embattled coach Heiko Herrlich while Schalke ended their year with a 3-1 win at fellow strugglers VfB Stuttgart.
Fortuna Dusseldorf scored a stoppage-time winner in a 1-0 victory at second-last Hanover for a third straight win to pull further clear of the drop zone, while basement side Nuremberg slipped to a 1-0 defeat at home to Freiburg, an 11th game without a win for the promoted side.
Leverkusen followed up their midweek 2-1 defeat of Schalke with another three points in a respite for 47-year-old coach Herrlich.
Kevin Volland opened the account in the sixth minute and Havertz made it two in the 23rd after a mistake by keeper Rune Jarstein. Hertha’s Jordan Torunarigha netted three minutes later but Havertz lobbed Jarstein four minutes after the interval for his second goal. Despite the win, which lifted Leverkusen to ninth, Germany’s Bild newspaper said Herrlich was facing dismissal, naming former Dortmund coach Peter Bosz as his likely successor.
“The victory is absolutely fine,” Herrlich said. “The second goal was certainly a gift, as was their goal which gave them a lift. In the second half we were then quickly rewarded and should have scored more goals.”
Schalke’s victory was meanwhile a boost to the Gelsenkirchen club’s coach Domenico Tedesco, whose job appears safe. Steven Skryzybski netted in the 10th minute and Salif Sane glanced a header from a corner in off Mario Gomez in the 70th.
Stuttgart reduced the deficit when Nicolas Gonzalez headed home in the 76th but Schalke substitute Ahmed Kutucu replied two minutes later to put Schalke 13th on 18 points, while Stuttgart slipped to third last on 14.
In Leipzig, the home side bounced back from Wednesday’s defeat at Bayern by edging Bremen.
Lukas Klostermann hammered a shot in off the bar in the 22nd minute to give the home side the lead. Timo Werner then made it two when he intercepted a return pass by Max Kruse to keeper Jiro Pavlenka to net just before half-time. Kruse got Bremen back in the game with a deflected shot in the 67th minute and Joshua Sargent levelled 20 minutes later before Portugal midfielder Bruma netted an 87th-minute winner. — dpa
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