Harry Kaned scored his third straight Bundesliga brace as Bayern Munich beat Eintracht Frankfurt 3-2 to move eight points clear of chasers Borussia Dortmund, who drew 2-2 at RB Leipzig on Saturday.
Bayern played before chasers Dortmund and Kane’s double helped the league leaders grab control of the match and run out to a 3–0 lead before mistakes let Frankfurt score two late goals.
Dortmund needed to beat Leipzig to keep pressure on Bayern, who visit the Westfalenstadion next week, but were down 2–0 at half-time after a Christoph Baumgartner double for Leipzig.
Dortmund forced Romulo into an own goal to cut the lead and former Wolves striker Fabio Silva scored in the fifth minute of stoppage time to snatch a draw.
Despite the late point, the result deals Dortmund’s slim title hopes a blow ahead of Bayern’s visit next Saturday.
In Munich, Aleksandar Pavlovic’s low strike gave Bayern the lead and Kane added goals either side of half-time, before giving away a penalty converted by Germany forward Jonathan Burkardt with 13 minutes remaining.
Bayern captain Joshua Kimmich gifted Frankfurt’s Arnaud Kalimuendo a late goal with a poor pass but the hosts held on.
“With the game, I was satisfied until the 75th minute,” said Jamal Musiala, who made his first Bundesliga start since May.
“We need to learn from that. We can’t have moments like that.
“Luckily we have the three points, but we need to be 100 focus percented and energized, no matter in which match and which opponents we’re playing.”
Kane has now scored more than one goal in a match 13 times this season in all competitions.
The England captain has netted 28 goals in 23 Bundesliga appearances and 43 in total this campaign.
The only negative for Bayern was a second-half injury to wing-back Alphonso Davies.
The Canada captain, who returned after eight months out with an ACL injury in December, clutched his ankle after a tackle and pulled his jersey over his face as he was substituted.
Bayern coach Vincent Kompany said he expected Davies to miss “two to four weeks”.
Dortmund had lost their last five matches in Leipzig and were on the back foot early when Yan Diomande carved through some heavy-legged defenders and found Baumgartner, who tapped home.
The Austrian midfielder added a second in similar fashion shortly before the break, with Leipzig captain David Raum this time the provider from the left.
Dortmund halved Leipzig’s lead five minutes after half-time when a low-flying Julian Ryerson corner rebounded to home striker Romulo, who tried to avoid the ball but headed into his own net.
Karim Adeyemi broke through on the counter and found Silva to level things up in stoppage time. Julian Brandt had a late chance in the dying moments but shot straight at Leipzig goalkeeper Maarten Vandevoordt.
– Leverkusen back down to earth –
Bayer Leverkusen’s top-four hopes took a hit with a 1-0 defeat at Union Berlin, days after an impressive Champions League win at Olympiacos.
Home captain Rani Khedira overpowered former Union midfielder Robert Andrich to pounce on a loose ball and hammer home in the 28th minute.
The defeat leaves Leverkusen in sixth, three points behind fourth-placed Stuttgart.
Elsewhere, third-placed Hoffenheim dropped points for just the second time in eight matches in a 2-2 draw at Cologne.
Cologne took the lead thanks to an incredible bicycle kick from Ragnar Ache but Hoffenheim hit back either side of the break to take the lead thanks to goals from Ozan Kabak and Andrej Kramaric.
Teenage winger Said El Mala put Cologne level with an excellent solo goal on 63 minutes and the hosts held on to grab a valuable point against the in-form visitors.
Augsburg were behind twice but won 3–2 at Wolfsburg, with Elvis Rexhbecaj scoring in stoppage time to lift the visitors nine points clear of the relegation play-off place.
