THEY OFTEN SAY whoever wins these games ends up winning the title and considering there was only one point between them prior to kick off, it didn’t take a genius to figure out that this was a massive fixture.

So it proved. Bayern prevailed as they so often do. But they were lucky, even if fortune wasn’t smiling on them prior to kick off with the news that Dortmund’s star man, Erling Haaland, was back from injury and that Bayern’s Joshua Kimmich and Leon Goretzka were still out.

They were missed. Bayern, truth be told, were poor. Dortmund deserved a point at the very least – had a legitimate penalty claim turned down when Lucas Hernandez brought down Marco Reus in the box.

Worse again, from their perspective, VAR awarded Bayern a penalty for  a Matts Hummels handball. Robert Lewandowski scored it to win the game.

Earlier, it was topsy-turvy. First up, five minutes in, Brandt scored to put Dortmund ahead.

Still on 🔝 #MiaSanMia pic.twitter.com/Y6pK46QXRm

— FC Bayern English (@FCBayernEN) December 4, 2021

Back came Bayern. Lewandowski made it 1-1 on eight minutes and went straight to Thomas Muller to thank him for his contribution to that goal.

Then two minutes before half-time, Kingsley Coman scored following a defensive mix-up in the Dortmund defence. 2-1, Bayern.

After half-time, Dortmund fought back. Haaland curled a shot past Manuel Neuer immediately after the break to make it 2-2. Then Dortmund had a penalty turned down which should have been given and then coughed one up when it quite easily could have been denied.

So Bayern win. They now lead the Bundesliga by four points with 14 games played.