Leader Bayern edges Paderborn

Bayern, which visits Chelsea in its Champions League last 16 first leg next Tuesday, now has 49 points. “Paderborn challenged us until the very last second,” Bayern coach Hansi Flick told reporters after his team’s eighth win in its last nine league games.

Bayern, which had expected a far easier dress rehearsal ahead of its trip to London, went ahead with a Serge Gnabry effort in the 25th minute. The visitor, however, had warned it would not be piling bodies into defence and it proved it by levelling a minute before the break.

Bayern keeper Manuel Neuer spectacularly failed to clear the ball after racing out of his box and Dennis Srbeny slipped it through his legs and went on to score. Bayern had its opponent on the back foot after the break but Paderborn keeper Leopold Zingerle twice denied Lewandowski with superb saves and also stopped Kingsley Coman from scoring.

Poland forward Lewandowski netted his team’s second in the 70th minute with a tap-in after fine work from Gnabry. But the joy did not last long as Sven Michel finished off another quick break that caught Bayern’s defence napping. Lewandowski, however, came to the rescue once more. He home with two minutes left from another Gnabry assist for the winner and his 25th goal in 23 league matches.