Bayern beat Hannover to go into break with eight-point lead
Confirmation of Pep Guardiola's summer departure remains the shadow hanging over league-leaders Bayern Munich who will go into the winter shutdown with an eight-point lead in the Bundesliga.
Speculation grows stronger that Guardiola will leave at the end of his contract and join Manchester City, while Carlo Ancelotti has been in talks with Matthias Sammer, the club's sporting director, and the Bayern board. Whatever happens, Guardiola and Bayern need to maintain focus to finish off domestic matters and in the Champions League, a tournament which could come to define Pep's three-year project in Munich.
Thomas Muller scored a first half penalty at Hannover to keep Bayern on track, but it's largely inconsequential with the Bavarians reportedly to confirm next season's arrangements tomorrow or Monday. Guardiola called two changes to his starting eleven from the midweek DFB Pokal win over Darmstadt with Thiago and Holger Badstuber coming in.
The Bayern coach persisted with a front-three, but Thiago's return to midfield alongside Xabi Alonso was key in giving the German champions impetus in attacking situations. As Bayern circulated from left-to-right, the central players became key. Chilean Arturo Vidal strolled into attack on 26 minutes, firing his shot from distance, but only hitting a cluster of Hannover defenders.
Lewandowski and Muller missed chances after half an hour, with the Polish striker's shot striking the woodwork. Muller couldn't beat Zieler from the rebound. But nine minutes later, Kingsley Coman's cross from the right was cleared by Christian Schulz's arm. Muller stepped up confidently from the penalty spot to net his 14th league goal of the season.
Coman's ability to extend the pitch with his positioning on the touchline is invaluable against deep and compact defenses. Thiago's terrific pivot and chipped ball on the hour mark created panic in the Frankfurt defense, but Muller couldn't finish. As much as Hannover rode their luck at the back, Michael Frontzeck's men had essentially no scoring opportunities even with the score at 1-0 in the last 15-20 minutes of the game. The Reds are still in relegation trouble, but confirmed pre-match that the club will make January signings.
Goals in Cologne haven't come often this season - the Billy Goats hadn't scored in more than eight hours of football before the 2-1 win over Borussia Dortmund. But strikes from Simon Zoller and Anthony Modeste in the last 10 minutes have all-but ended the championship race as Dortmund fell eight points behind Bayern at the halfway point of the season.
Thomas Tuchel's side traveled to the Rhine-Energie Stadion without Marcel Schmelzer, the club's consistent left full-back. Jonas Hofmann was given a start on the right-wing with Marco Reus out injured. The hosts tried to exploit his absence with most of their dangerous play emanating from the right-flank with Marcel Risse. But on 18 minutes, Greek defender Sokratis emphatically headed in a corner kick, taken by assist-king Henrikh Mkhitaryan, beating Timo Horn, the Cologne keeper who is statistically the best shot-stopper in the Bundesliga. At the other end, Roman Burki was just as much in the limelight, pulling off an excellent save from Fredrik Sorensen on 33 minutes.
Three minutes later, Hofmann picked out Julian Weigl on the edge of the box and the defensive midfielder was inches away from guaranteeing a second for Dortmund who saw Mats Hummels limp off with a hamstring injury at the break. However, dominance largely lay with Cologne and the Billy Goats deserved to steal a point in the final minutes. After Yannick Gerhardt's shot hit the post, Simon Zoller punished a poor pass from Burki to level before Modeste struck in the 90th minute to secure a dramatic win for the hosts.
Meanwhile, Claudio Pizarro scored his 178th Bundesliga goal, but couldn't prevent Werder Bremen from failing to win for their fifth successive league game at Eintracht Frankfurt. It was just as important for Armin Veh whose side has lost four games on the spin. Bremen, whose head coach Viktor Skripnik continues to be under pressure, took the lead on 29 minutes with 37-year-old Pizarro volleying home the opener - the Peruvian is the highest scoring foreigner in Bundesliga history with 178 league goals and is now joint-sixth in the league's all-time scoring charts.
But a minute later, Frankfurt sprung forward and last season's top goalscorer Alex Meier rose highest to head in the equalizer. Just after half time, Stefan Aigner's excellent finish put the Eagles back in front and Frankfurt held on to secure a massive win with pressure also on Veh this past week.
Bayer Leverkusen took all three points at Ingolstadt with a late goal from Javier Hernandez digging the Werkself out against tough opposition. Chicharito's excellent, one-touch finish on 73 minutes was the Mexican's 11th league goal in 14 matches for Leverkusen who move up to fourth with 27 points.
Resurgent Augsburg picked up their second win in two weeks with a 1-0 win at Hamburg. Having hit the woodwork through Markus Feulner, the Bavarians were the stronger team and should have led before a nervy last quarter of an hour. Jan Moravek's goal on 77 minutes moves Augsburg up to 12th ahead of the winter shutdown.
