* Bayern close gap on Dortmund to three points
* Bavarians win seventh in a row
* Cologne in trouble after losing to Augsburg
(Adds detail)
March 31 (Reuters) – Bayern Munich threw the Bundesliga
title race wide open when Arjen Robben gave them a 1-0 win at
Nuremburg on Saturday, closing the gap on leaders Borussia
Dortmund to three points.
The Dutchman struck his 11th league goal of the season in
the 68th minute as the Bavarians, chasing a Bundesliga, Cup and
Champions League treble, took advantage of Dortmund’s 4-4 draw
at home with VfB Stuttgart the previous evening.
A scrappy match ended with a let off for Bayern, who have 60
points from 28 games, when Almog Cohen struck the post with a
long-range effort.
The top two have six matches each to play with Bayern, who
made it seven wins in a row in all competitions, visiting
defending champions Dortmund on April 11.
Nuremburg and Bayern produced a scrappy opening hour
although the game came to life in the final third after Bayern
brought on Franck Ribery and Bastian Schweinsteiger.
Their winner came when Nuremburg’s Dominic Maroh gave the
ball away just outside his own penalty area, Ribery’s shot was
stopped by goalkeeper Raphael Schaefer but Robben collected the
rebound and scored from the edge of the area.
Mario Gomez headed against the crossbar for Bayern, who then
had a lucky escape when Neuer misjudged Cohen’s dipping 30-metre
shot and ended up punching it on to the post.
Cologne dropped into the relegation playoff place after
losing 2-1 fellow strugglers Augsburg with all the goals coming
in the first half.
Ja-Cheol Koo fired Augsburg ahead in the 19th minute, Lukas
Podolski equalised for Cologne with a penalty in the 42nd only
for Angola forward Nando Rafael to put Augsburg back in front
with another spot kick on the stroke of halftime.
To make if worse for Cologne, two other relegation
candidates both won.
Hamburg SV ended a losing run with a 1-0 win at hapless
bottom club Kaiserslautern and Freiburg continued their
impressive climb out of danger by winning 2-0 at Bayer
Leverkusen.
Marcell Jansen’s 29th-minute goal was enough for Hamburg,
the only ever-present team since the Bundesliga was founded in
1963, to end a run of four successive defeats
Kaiserslautern extended their winless league run to 18
matches.
Julian Schuster and Daniel Caligiuri scored in each half in
Freiburg’s victory at Bayer Leverkusen, making it four wins and
a draw in their last five games for the visitors.
Freiburg climbed to 13th place with 31 points from 28 games,
one ahead of Hamburg and Augsburg.
Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting scored twice in Mainz 05’s 3-0 win
at Werder Bremen after Adam Szalai had opened the scoring.
(Writing by Brian Homewood; Editing by Alison Wildey)
