Herrmann double helps Gladbach down Bremen to stretch lead

Borussia Moenchengladbach maintained their four-point lead at the top of the Bundesliga on Sunday as winger Patrick Herrmann scored twice in an emphatic 3-1 hone win over Werder Bremen.

RB Leipzig, who won at Hertha Berlin, and defending champions Bayern Munich, who routed Dortmund 4-0 at the Allianz Arena, had both trimmed Gladbach’s lead to just a point with their wins on Saturday.

However, goals by Ramy Bensebaini and Herrmann’s double on Sunday sealed their win to restore Gladbach’s four-point lead at the top.

Bremen midfielder Leonardo Bittencourt netted a late consolation goal for the visitors deep into added time. Hosts Gladbach took the lead at Borussia Park with two goals inside 107 seconds.

Midfielder Laszlo Benes whipped in a free-kick and left-back Bensebaini out-jumped the Bremen defence to power home his header on 20 minutes.

The second followed almost immediately from a counter-attack when French striker Marcus Thuram drew Bremen goalkeeper Jiri Pavlenka to present Herrmann with a simple tap-in and an empty net.

Yuya Osako looked to have halved the lead when Bremen’s Japan forward finished off a flowing move.

However, the video assistant referee spotted a foul by team-mate Milot Raschica on Denis Zakaria in the build-up and the goal was disallowed with 28 minutes gone.

Gladbach came within a few centimetres of going into the break 3-0 up when Bensebaini fired over just before the whistle.

Home captain Yann Sommer pulled off two good saves to deny Rashica, and then Germany squad member Maximilian Eggestein at the start of the second-half. The Swiss shot-stopper then saved a penalty attempt by Bremen captain Davy Klaassen on 54 minutes.

Herrmann made it 3-0 when he dribbled at Bremen defender Marco Friedl, who backed off and paid the price when the Gladbach winger fired home a rocket of a shot on the hour mark.

Gladbach finished with ten men when Bensebaini picked up a second yellow card for a foul on Leon Bittencourt having also been booked for giving away the penalty Klaassen failed to convert.

Then Bittencourt grabbed Bremen’s late consolation goal.

The home win means Gladbach will have been top for a month by the time they play their next game at newly-promoted Union Berlin in two weeks with Leipzig second and Bayern in third place.

Bremen, who have one win in their last nine games, drop to 14th and are two points from the relegation places.

Agence France-Presse