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Bayern beat Stuttgart to move a step closer to Bundesliga title / Photo: © AFP
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Bayern beat Stuttgart to move a step closer to Bundesliga title
Goals from Michael Olise, Leon Goretzka and Kingsley Coman took Bayern Munich to a come-from-behind 3-1 win at Stuttgart on Friday and sent them 11 points clear in the Bundesliga with 10 games remaining.
Bayern's win, the ninth of their past 10 league matches, puts the German giants on course to win back the title from Bayer Leverkusen.
Leverkusen can restore the gap to eight points with a win at Eintracht Frankfurt on Saturday.
Bayern and Bayer meet in the first leg of their last 16 Champions League tie in Munich on Wednesday.
Stuttgart started strongly and broke through after 34 minutes thanks to Angelo Stiller's excellent long-range effort.
The visitors hit back just before half time when Olise narrowly beat the offside trap, latching onto a Leroy Sane pass and slotting home.
With the match in the balance early in the second half, Goretzka used his strength to force Stuttgart into a mistake, stealing the ball from Stiller before barrelling through the penalty area and giving Bayern the lead.
Coman sealed the win with a stoppage-time goal.
Goretzka told DAZN "it was hard work. We didn't start well but we stayed calm -- and at the end we deserved to win."
One potential cloud for Bayern was a late injury to Alphonso Davies, who limped off in the dying stages.
"The fact is we're making it far too easy for other teams to score goals -- it feels bitter right now," Stiller told DAZN as he apologised for his mistake.
As they have so often this season, Vincent Kompany's men did just enough to navigate a tricky away fixture, as they look to return to the winner's circle after going trophyless for the first time in 11 years last season.
With the crunch Champions League tie just days away, Bayern named strong XI, with Harry Kane returning, having come off the bench last week due to injury.
Stuttgart won 3-1 in the corresponding fixture last season as they leapfrogged Bayern into second spot, having narrowly avoided relegation the season prior.
The hosts started furiously. Former Bayern junior Stiller drilled a shot inside the near post from outside the box.
Bayern levelled moments before halftime when Sane found a charging Olise, who broke into space before knocking a controlled finish past home goalie Alexander Nuebel.
Images seemed to suggest the former Crystal Palace forward was offside, but after a long VAR review, the goal stood.
Midway through the second half, Goretzka -- brought into the starting lineup shortly before kickoff at the expense of the sick Aleksandar Pavlovic -- created something out of nothing.
With Stuttgart looking to build from the back, Goretzka pressed Stiller into a mistake, before stealing the ball and hammering home.
Under-fire Goretzka has lost his spot in the Germany squad to Stiller.
Coman added a third in stoppage time, taking advantage of an out-of-position Nuebel to put Bayern -- who celebrated their 125th anniversary this week -- well and truly in control of the title race with just under a third of the season remaining.
L.Nguyen--SFF
