Two second-half goals from the substitute Jamal Musiala put Bayern Munich six points clear at the top of the Bundesliga with a nervous 4-2 home victory over Heidenheim.
The Bavarian club, who take on Shakhtar Donetsk in the Champions League on Tuesday, were without the injured Harry Kane, Manuel Neuer and Serge Gnabry. Eager to bounce back from their midweek German Cup defeat by Bayer Leverkusen,the hosts were in control from the start and took an 18th-minute lead when unmarked Dayot Upamecano headed in.
Heidenheim equalised with their first chance of the match five minutes into the second half, thanks to Upamecano’s huge defensive blunder that allowed Mathias Honsak to get possession and slot in undisturbed.
The visitors’ joy only lasted five minutes with Musiala drilling in from just inside the box to put his team back in front. Goretzka then added a third with a deflected shot in the 84th before Heidenheim quickly pulled a goal back once more with Niclas Doresch’s tap-in.
Musiala settled the hosts’ nerves with a solo effort in stoppage time to make it 4-2 with his eighth league goal of the campaign. Bayern are in top spot on 33 points with Eintracht Frankfurt six points behind in second after they drew 2-2 at home against Augsburg.
Bayer Leverkusen struck twice in the first half to beat St Pauli 2-1 and make it three league wins in a row for the first time this season. The defending champions needed only six minutes to take control of the game with Florian Wirtz firing in from a superb Granit Xhaka pass.
Leverkusen doubled their lead after 21 minutes when the defender Jonathan Tah was left unmarked at the far post to head in. St Pauli set up a nervous finale when they pulled a goal backthrough Morgan Guilavogui. RB Leipzig are two points behind in fourth after Benjamin Sesko set up a 2-0 win at Holstein Kiel.
Borussia Dortmund’s Jamie Gittens fired in a superb goal after a solo effort but his team drew 1-1 at Borussia Mönchengladbach and remain without an away win. The in-form English winger, who has now scored for a fourth straight game across all competitions, shook off two markers, cut into the box and drove in his shot off the post for a 64th minute lead with his fifth league goal.
Gladbach levelled in the 71st with a well-taken Kevin Stöger penalty after a lengthy VAR review. The hosts then had the 89th-minute substitute Tomas Cvancara sent off for picking up two yellow cards in added time. Dortmund, who have lost four and drawn two of their six away games, are fifth on 21 points.
In Spain, Hansi Flick said his Barcelona side have more than enough quality but need to display it consistently after they stumbled to a 2-2 La Liga draw at Real Betis.
Barça twice took the lead at the Benito Villamarín Stadium after goals from Robert Lewandowski and Ferran Torres, but home side Betis fought back through Giovani Lo Celso’s penalty and a stoppage-time backheel from substitute Assane Diao to earn a share of the points. “It wasn’t a good game. We are a young team and we need to improve a lot,” Flick said.
Later Real Madrid narrowed the gap on Barcelona to two points with a commanding 3-0 win at Girona thanks to goals from Jude Bellingham, Arda Guler and Kylian Mbappé.
Bellingham opened the scoring in the 36th minute by capitalising on a loose ball and firing home from the centre of the box before setting up Guler with a fine through ball to double the lead 10 minutes after the break. The England midfielder was forced off injured shortly before Mbappé made it 3-0 with a shot from a tight angle just after the hour.
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“Bellingham has scored his fifth goal in a row. He’s back and in good form,” said the Real Madrid manager, Carlo Ancelotti. “Mbappé scored today too … we have to hang in there, little by little we’re coming back. The team had more clarity and more ideas. I think the second half went very well.”
Las Palmas followed up last weekend’s win over Barça with a 2-1 success over rock-bottom Real Valladolid thanks to two goals from Sandro Ramírez. Pathé Ciss’s early header was enough to earn Rayo Vallecano a 1-0 victory at Valencia, who stay second from bottom.
In Italy, Juventus came from two goals down to salvage a 2-2 draw at home to Bologna with Samuel Mbangula’s added-time goal maintaining their unbeaten record in Serie A this season. Juve remain sixth on 27 points, seven points off leaders Atalanta.
Dan Ndoye gave the visitors a deserved lead on the half-hour mark and they doubled their advantage seven minutes after the break through Tommaso Pobega. Teun Koopmeiners pulled one back for Juventus 10 minutes later and, with time running out, Mbangula struck from outside the area to snatch a last-gasp draw.
The Juventus manager, Thiago Motta, taking on his former club, was shown a red card early in the second half for his protests before Bologna found a second goal.
Roma ended a run of four straight league defeats and secured a first win under Claudio Ranieri as they thrashed Lecce 4-1 at the Stadio Olimpico. Alexis Saelemaekers, Gianluca Mancini, Niccolò Pisilli and Manu Koné all found the net to help the hosts move up to 11th in the table.
