Bayern Munich move two points clear after comeback win over Borussia Dortmund

Germany Soccer Bundesliga
(Image credit: Bernd Thissen)

Bayern Munich came from a goal down to beat Borussia Dortmund 3-2 at Signal Iduna Park as the Bavarian giants moved two points clear atop the Bundesliga standings.

Both sides came into ‘Der Klassiker’ having won five and lost once in their opening six matches and they could not be split at the end of a frantic first half as Marco Reus’ opener was soon cancelled out by David Alaba.

Robert Lewandowski headed home shortly after the resumption and Bayern had a two-goal cushion with 10 minutes to go when Leroy Sane finished off a fluid counter-attack, cutting in from the right and drilling past Roman Burki.

Erling Haaland pulled one back in the 83rd minute but there was to be no way back for Dortmund, who slipped to third in the table after RB Leipzig thumped Freiburg 3-0.

Ibrahima Konate put the hosts ahead before the half hour while Marcel Sabitzer’s 70th-minute penalty and Angelino’s late effort helped Leipzig bounce back from last week’s defeat to Borussia Monchengladbach.

First-half goals from Keita Endo, Robert Andrich and Sheraldo Becker, a penalty from Max Kruse and substitute Cedric Teuchert’s late effort helped Union Berlin move up to fourth after a 5-0 trouncing of Arminia Bielefeld.

Rock-bottom Mainz collected their first point of the season with a 2-2 draw at fellow strugglers Schalke, Hertha Berlin claimed their second win of the season after winning 3-0 at Augsburg and Stuttgart and Frankfurt drew 2-2.

In LaLiga, Lionel Messi came off the bench at half-time to score twice as Barcelona beat 10-man Real Betis 5-2 at the Nou Camp.

Lionel Messi scored twice for Barcelona on Saturday (Joan Monfort/AP/PA)

Lionel Messi scored twice for Barcelona on Saturday (Joan Monfort/AP/PA)

Ousmane Dembele had given the home side the lead after 22 minutes, before Antoine Griezmann’s penalty was saved and Antonio Sanabria equalised in first-half stoppage time.

Messi, though, made an instant impact as his clever stepover set up Griezmann five minutes after the restart and he then converted a penalty after Aissa Mandi was shown a red card for handball on the line following VAR review.

Loren Moron set up a tense final 15 minutes, but Messi settled matters with another late third goal and Pedri added a fifth as Ronald Koeman’s side closed out a much-needed victory.

Joao Felix bookended the scoring while there were also goals for Marcos Llorente and Luis Suarez as Atletico Madrid hammered Cadiz 4-0 to go to the top of the table, while Sevilla beat Osasuna 1-0 and Huesca and Eibar drew 1-1.

Angel Di Maria scored in either half as Paris St Germain moved five points clear atop Ligue 1 for a few hours at least following a 3-0 victory over third-placed Rennes.

Moise Kean opened the scoring after 12 minutes before Di Maria bagged his first midway through the first half, finishing the scoring with a quarter of an hour to go as PSG claimed their eighth successive league win.

Florent Mollet and Andy Delort were on-target in Saturday’s other match as Montpellier won 2-0 at Bordeaux.

In Serie A, Spezia comfortably defeated Benevento 3-0, Cagliari overcame 10-man Sampdoria 2-0 while Parma-Sampdoria finished goalless.