Bayern Munich beat bottom-placed Hertha Berlin 2-0 on Sunday and regained top spot in the Bundesliga standings with four games left in the season.
Thanks to goals from Serge Gnabry (69th minute) and Frenchman Kingsley Coman (79th), both assisted by Joshua Kimmich, Bayern returned to a lead they had surrendered the previous matchday after losing at Mainz.
The Bavarian giants now have 62 points, one more than Borussia Dortmund (2nd, 61), who on Friday had stumbled in the ‘little Ruhr derby’ at Bochum (1-1), a team that is sixteenth in the standings.
“This victory suits us very well, it will give us more self-confidence,” said the coach of the new leaders, Thomas Tuchel.
Bayern are therefore once again depending on themselves to win an eleventh consecutive Bundesliga title and avoid a title-less 2023, something that has not happened to them since 2011.
In their four remaining league games, Bayern will play twice away, next week in Bremen and in Cologne on the final matchday, against two teams that have already virtually avoided relegation. At home, Thomas Tuchel’s men will host a Schalke side in the relegation places and a RB Leipzig side (5th) desperate to reach the ‘Top 4’ to be in the next Champions League.
Borussia Dortmund, meanwhile, have three home games (Wolfsburg, Borussia Mönchengladbach, Mainz) and one away game (Augsburg).
Winning the Bundesliga seems a must for Bayern, the country’s biggest club, which this year disappointed in the German Cup by losing to Freiburg and, above all, in the Champions League by being beaten in the quarterfinals by Manchester City.
– Hertha on their way to the second round
On Sunday, Hertha had 75,000 spectators at their Allianz Arena, in a match with few chances in the first half but which became livelier after the break.
Gnabry opened the scoring in the 69th with a header from Kimmich’s cross. It was his first goal since February 11.
Kimmich also provided the decisive pass for Coman to score the second and final goal in the 79th minute to prevent Bayern from stumbling again.
“We have to keep believing in ourselves,” Coman, voted player of the match, told DAZN. “We can be the champions, we’re going to try our best.”
Teammate Thomas Müller was also upbeat: “We’re going for it (the title), you can write that down. We’re on our way back,” he told reporters.
Hertha, bottom of the standings, seem to be sinking towards the second division. They are six points behind the first team out of relegation (Stuttgart) and the team in a playoff spot for relegation (Bochum).
“We fought hard in this match. I saw a team today, we played like a real team,” consoled Berlin coach Pal Dardai.
In the match that closed the 30th German matchday, Wolfsburg (7th) easily beat Mainz (8th) 3-0 in a match in which Denmark’s Jonas Wind scored a brace.