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Frankfurt. Arjen Robben scored two late goals on Saturday to help Bayern Munich rally for a 2-1 win over Freiburg to regain the Bundesliga lead.

Cedrick Makiadi gave the visitor a surprising lead in the 31st minute, taking a pass from Yacine Abdessadki and blasting the ball into the upper right corner from 17 yards.

Freiburg’s compact defense kept Bayern at bay until the 76th minute, when Robben converted a free kick.

Bayern, which was without Bastian Schwein­steiger, Franck Ribery and Mario Gomez, took the lead after Ivica Banovic fouled Thomas Mueller in the area and Robben converted the penalty in the 83rd.

“We didn’t play very good in the first half,” Bayern coach Louis van Gaal said. “We didn’t have a lot of creativity, but I think this team can play better, and the team proved that in the second half.”

Bayern Munich improved to 56 points from 26 rounds for a two-point lead over Schalke, which took the provisional lead on Friday with a 2-1 victory at home over Stuttgart.

“We don’t want to give up the lead again,” Bayern captain Mark van Bommel said. “We have had a lot of confidence since November. I hope we continue playing this way.”

Last-place Hertha Berlin moved closer to relegation by losing 2-1 against Nuremberg, its 12th Bundesliga home game in a row without a win. Berlin wasted a number of scoring opportunities and a first-half lead and is now nine points from moving out of the relegation zone.

“I still believe in miracles,” Berlin midfielder Pal Dardai said. “We cannot give up and have to continue to work and believe that there are miracles. We played a really good first half but could not keep it up in the second.”

Berlin twice hit the goal frame before Theo Gekas gave the host the lead in the 36th. Nuremberg equalized in the 61st through Albert Bunjaku, and Angelos Cha­risteas gave the visitors the win by scoring a minute into stoppage time.

Borussia Dortmund climbed to fourth with a comfortable 4-1 home victory against local rival Bochum, which played the final 57 minutes with 10 men.

Bochum’s Marcel Maltritz scored an own-goal after 18 minutes and Mohamed Zidan made it 2-0 for Dortmund in the 27th.

Lewis Holtby pulled a goal back for the visitors in the 53rd. Lucas Barrios then scored two goals within three minutes to seal the win for Dortmund.

Defending champion Wolfsburg earned its fourth consecutive win by easing past Borussia Moenchengladbach 4-1, getting two goals from Edin Dzeko. Zvjezdan Misimovic and Christian Gentner struck also scored for Wolfsburg.

 


Associated Press