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Dortmund edge closer to title

Borussia Dortmund took another giant stride towards their first Bundesliga title in nine years with victory over Bayern Munich at the Allianz Arena which all but ended the hosts’ hopes of defending their crown.

Dortmund’s first win in Munich since 1991 gave them a 13-point lead over second-placed Bayern Leverkusen, who play tomorrow, and moved them 16 clear of Bayern.

Lucas Barrios put Jurgen Klopp’s side ahead in the ninth minute before Luis Gustavo brought Bayern level in the 16th minute.

Nuri Sahin put Dortmund back in front within two minutes and Mats Hummels sealed the three points after an hour to leave Bayern languishing in fourth.

Roman Weidenfeller failed a late fitness test, meaning Mitchell Langerak made his debut in the Dortmund goal.

He did not have much to do early on, though, as the league leaders started brightly with Robert Lewandowski volleying just over from 11 yards after Bastian Schweinsteiger had left him in space at the far post.

It was not Schweinsteiger’s evening and his error in the midfield gifted possession to Kevin Grosskreutz, who slid the ball into the path of Barrios, who needed just one touch to beat Thomas Kraft.

Bayern levelled in the 16th minute with Gustavo netting his first goal for the club with a coolly-taken volley from eight yards following a corner.

However, Dortmund were back in front within two minutes following the sort of counter-attacking goal which has become their trademark.

Barrios broke clear and held off Arjen Robben before Mario Gotze took over.

The 18-year-old pulled the ball back to Sahin, who looked up and picked his spot, curling the ball into the top corner from 20 yards.

Mario Gomez saw his goal correctly disallowed for offside in the 26th minute before Thomas Muller’s shot was deflected over the crossbar.

Another mistake by Schweinsteiger, who struck his clearance against Anatoliy Tymoschuk, nearly gifted Barrios his second, but he somehow lifted the ball over an open goal from close range.

Kraft then denied Gotze as Dortmund continued to play confident football, and from the resultant corner, they scored a third to seal the points.

Former Bayern defender Hummels met Sahin’s ball in with his head from seven yards and sent the ball into the top left-hand corner.

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Wasteful Gijon pay the price

Sporting Gijon were left to rue a host of missed chances as they were held to a goalless draw by fellow Primera Division strugglers Real Zaragoza.

Carmelo had a goal disallowed late on but Sporting only had themselves to blame after spurning a host of decent opportunities in registering their third straight draw.

Real Zaragoza offered little after a promising opening but did at least get a point after suffering back-to-back defeats.

Zaragoza were on top in the opening exchanges but were restricted in the main to long-range strikes.

Leonardo Ponzio, Ander Herrera and Nicolas Bertolo all tried their luck without success in the opening 10 minutes, failing even to test home goalkeeper Ivan Cuellar.

Herrera fired over from the edge of the box after 25 minutes, before Sporting started to come into the game more.

David Barral’s close-range strike was parried by Antonio Doblas, who had an easier job holding onto a shot from Diego Castro a minute later.

It was Barral who was looking the real danger, though, with two efforts sandwiching a wayward strike from Zaragoza captain Gabi as the half drew to a close.

The first was wide from the edge of the box, but the second, a left-foot strike from 12 yards, drew a brilliant stop from Doblas.

Sporting continued where they left off after the break and they again came close when Miguel de las Cuevas got on the end of a corner from Jose Angel Valdes, but his shot was cleared by Gabi.

Two minutes later Valdes saw his 20-yard effort turned behind by Doblas.

Just after the hour mark Valdes crossed for Barral, but his close-range header did not trouble Doblas.

Sporting thought they had broken the deadlock in the 78th minute when Carmelo had the ball in the back of the net, but the goal was ruled out for offside.

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Reyes to the rescue for Atletico

Jose Antonio Reyes netted a late equaliser against former club Sevilla to earn Atletico Madrid a share of the spoils from a 2-2 draw in a hugely entertaining clash between two of La Liga’s struggling big guns at the Vicente Calderon.

Sevilla, who this week were knocked out of the Europa League, twice took the lead through goals from Alvaro Negredo and Ivan Rakitic but Atletico hit back both times to deservedly claim a point.

Teenager Jorge Koke cancelled out Negredo’s strike with his first league goal for the club, while Reyes, who came up through the youth ranks at Sevilla, netted Atletico’s second equaliser with 14 minutes to go.

Both clubs will be pleased to have avoided defeat against one of their main rivals for a Europa League place, but they could find themselves even further adrift of the top six if Athletic Bilbao beat Valencia on Sunday.

Atletico started the better but, after Reyes, Sergio Aguero and Raul Garcia had all tested visiting goalkeeper Javi Varas, it was Sevilla who took the lead four minutes before half-time.

Mouhamadou Dabo’s deep cross was chested down by Diego Perotti to the edge of the area, where former Real Madrid striker Negredo struck an unstoppable left-foot shot past David De Gea.

Atletico will have been bitterly disappointed to have gone behind after looking on top, but they almost drew level in first-half injury-time when Koke poked Diego Forlan’s low cross goalward, and it needed an outstretched foot from Varas to deny the youngster.

Varas was left helpless by Koke two minutes into the second half however as the 19-year-old got on the end of another Forlan cross to cushion a header just inside the far post.

That was the perfect start to the second period for Atletico, but they were fortunate to still be on level terms soon after as Negredo missed a great chance for Sevilla before Luis Fabiano saw a powerful header saved by De Gea.

As the game swept from one end to another, Atletico went close themselves in the 58th minute but Varas denied Aguero before Koke’s follow-up was also blocked.

Atletico once again looked to be gaining the upper hand, but they fell behind for a second time in the 65th minute as Sevilla scored a superbly-worked breakaway goal.

Aguero was muscled off the ball in the Sevilla area by Julien Escude, and Gary Medel and Fernando Navarro combined to set Perotti away down the left. Perotti then cut inside Tomas Ujfalusi before picking out Jesus Navas, who promptly laid the ball back to the edge of the box where Rakitic side-footed into the far corner of the net.

Sevilla again could not hold onto their lead, however, as Atletico drew level with 14 minutes to go when Reyes was put through by Antonio Lopez and he slotted a low shot past Varas.

That was the end of the scoring, but it was not the end of the chances and both sides came close to snatching all three points in the closing stages.

Aguero had three good attempts, the final of which was a magnificent opening with 10 minutes to go after Varas had picked up a back-pass from team-mate Sergio Sanchez.

Atletico midfielder Tiago quickly grabbed the ball off the bemused Sevilla custodian and immediately passed to Aguero, but with a goal looking a certainty, Varas redeemed himself by throwing himself at the Argentinian’s shot and managing to deflect it for a corner.

That was a huge let-off for Sevilla, but Atletico were also left breathing a sigh of relief in the 87th minute when Negredo’s superb 25-yard effort came back off the underside of the crossbar with De Gea beaten.

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Espanyol rally to beat Real

Espanyol turned up the heat in the second half to secure a 4-1 victory over Real Sociedad that boosts their hopes of qualifying for Europe next season.

Espanyol went ahead three minutes before the break courtesy of an Estrada own goal, the Real Sociedad defender turning Alvaro Vazquez’s shot past his own goalkeeper.

But Estrada quickly made amends by conjuring up an equaliser on the stroke of half-time.

Espanyol regained the initiative nine minutes into the second half when Sergio Garcia made it 2-1 after Joan Verdu had supplied an inviting cross from the right.

Jose Callejon looked to have put the match beyond Sociedad’s reach with a third nine minutes from time after latching onto a pass from Pedro Rui Fonte. And Javi Marquez put the seal on the home side’s win with a fourth on the stroke of full-time curling home a 30-yard freekick.

Real Sociedad had been the first to settle but Antoine Griezmann was off target with his fifth-minute effort and Estrada was wide with another shot on 22 minutes.

The visitors did produce the first genuine threat with David Zurutuza seeing his shot tipped round the post by Espanyol goalkeeper Carlos Kameni in the 26th minute.

Estrada’s unfortunate own goal halted their momentum and although he levelled before the break it was all Espanyol after the break.

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Chelsea defender Ashley Cole has allegedly shot and wounded a work experience boy at the club after “larking” around with an air rifle, according to the News of the World.

The incident happened last Sunday at the Chelsea’s Cobham training ground when Cole took the .22 gun from a box, not realising it was loaded, and accidentially fired at Tom Cowan, 21, from just five feet away.

A source told the News of the World: “It’s truly inconceivable that a Premier League footballer could bring a gun to the training ground.

“But Ashley pulled the rifle from a box and started larking about with it in the changing room, not realising it was loaded. It ended up pointed at Tom just five feet away.

“The gun went off with a loud pop and Tom screamed as this lead pellet hit him in the side. It went through his clothing and into his flesh.”

Cowan received treatment from the Chelsea medical staff and was given two days to rest after the ordeal, which was witnessed by a dozen staff members of the club.

Police were not called and the source went on to say that Chelsea officials were concerned that “it would be a PR disaster if this became public knowledge, so the club has closed ranks over it”.

At present there has been no word from Chelsea about the alleged incident.

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