Robert Lewandowski’s penalty retains Bayern Munich 4 factors away from Leipzig

Robert Lewandowski’s penalty was sufficient for Bayern Munich to consolidate its Bundesliga lead on the midway stage of the season with a 1-0 win at Bavarian rival Augsburg on Wednesday.
Lewandowski’s spot kick within the thirteenth minute was Bayern’s solely reward for dominating the primary half, whereas the guests needed to maintain on within the second with Augsburg lacking a bunch of probabilities — together with a penalty of its personal.
Lewandowski scored his twenty second purpose of the season – a league report after 17 video games – from the spot after a foul from Augsburg midfielder Rani Khedira on Lucas Hernández.
Serge Gnabry and Thomas Müller each missed probabilities earlier than the break, when Khedira made method for Tobias Strobl.
Bayern coach Hansi Flick took Lewandowski off as a precaution within the 67th after he “felt something” behind his leg.
“Robert is extremely important for us. We didn’t want to take any risks,” Flick mentioned.

2️⃣2️⃣ objectives on the half-way level 🤯
How many will @lewy_official end up with this season? #FCAFCB pic.twitter.com/zchF77KCP4
— FC Bayern English (@FCBayernEN) January 20, 2021
Augsburg improved considerably within the second half however missed an ideal probability to equalize when Alfred Finnbogason – who had solely come on instead a few minutes earlier than – smashed his penalty off the left put up within the 76th. Benjamin Pavard conceded the spot kick for handball.
“Very bitter,” Finnbogason mentioned of his miss.
Another Augsburg substitute, Fredrik Jensen, shot over from one other good place shortly afterward.
Union overwhelmed
Bayern stayed 4 factors away from Leipzig, which earned a hard-fought 1-0 victory over Union Berlin because of Emil Forsberg’s Seventieth-minute strike.
Forsberg had come on instead 10 minutes earlier than and capitalized on a uncommon lapse from Union’s protection to show and rating previous Andreas Luthe.
Leipzig goalkeeper Peter Gulacsi denied Marius Bülter an injury-time equalizer as Union failed to attain for the primary time within the league this season.
Union dropped to sixth place after its first defeat in seven video games since shedding the Berlin derby 3-1 at Hertha on Dec. 4.

Bielefeld aid
Arminia Bielefeld defeated Stuttgart 3-0 at residence to remain out of the relegation zone after Cologne’s late 2-1 win at last-place Schalke earlier Wednesday. Cologne remained sixteenth within the 18-team division with Bielefeld two factors clear in fifteenth.
Also, Eintracht Frankfurt got here again to attract 2-2 at Freiburg.