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Bayern’s last-gasp heist before Real showdown

BAYERN MUNICH came from two goals down in the last 10 minutes to win 3-2 at Freiburg in the Bundesliga on Saturday, ahead of their Champions League quarterfinal first leg at Real Madrid. Trailing 2-0 and without injured talisman Harry Kane, Tom Bischof scored twice from distance before Lennart Karl grabbed the winner in the ninth minute of stoppage time. Karl’s goal was Bayern’s 100th of the season, one short of the all-time Bundesliga record. Bischof said the comeback win was the ideal preparation for Tuesday’s European tie in the Spanish capital.

Elsewhere, Bayer Leverkusen came from behind twice to win 6-3 in a wild clash at home to Wolfsburg to stay in Champions League contention. Leverkusen’s win took them a point behind Hoffenheim, whose 2-1 home defeat to Mainz continued their slide. Cruising in third in February, Hoffenheim are now fifth and have won just one of their past six matches. Borussia Moenchengladbach drew 2-2 with last-placed Heidenheim, while 10-man Hamburg drew 1-1 at home with Augsburg. – AFP

Vincent Kompany opted to leave Michael Olise and Dayot Upamecano on the bench ahead of the trip to Madrid, whom Bayern have not beaten since 2012. Karim Adeyemi and Julian Brandt scored in stoppage time to snatch Borussia Dortmund a fiery 2-0 win at Stuttgart. The win keeps Dortmund nine points behind Bayern, while Stuttgart drop from third to fourth behind RB Leipzig, who beat Werder Bremen 2-1, on goal difference. Bremen sit four points ahead of St Pauli, who occupy the relegation playoff spot.

“A game like this is the perfect match for us right now before Real Madrid, because we realise what type of team we are – we stick together,” said the 20-year-old Bischof, who scored his first Bayern goals since arriving from Hoffenheim last summer. Bischof said the 15-time European champions always perform on the biggest stage. “It will be a different game, that much is clear, because Real are simply on a different level,” he said. “They can always be dangerous, even if things aren’t going so well in the league.” With Kane sidelined by an ankle complaint,

Lewa seals it late Barcelona move clear in La Liga as Madrid stumble at Mallorca R OBERT LEWANDOWSKI shouldered home a dra matic late winner for Barcelona as they edged Atletico Madrid 2-1 yesterday to move seven points clear at the top of La Liga after Real Madrid slipped minute through Giuliano Simeone but the visitors pulled level just three minutes later, Rashford exchanging passes with Olmo and drilling past Juan Musso on only his third league start since January. Atletico were reduced to 10 men just before halftime when Gonzalez scythed down Barca’s 18-year-old star Lamine Yamal on the edge of the box as he ran towards goal.

Baghdad goes wild THOUSANDS

Year Miyu Yamashita both shot 71 to share third place on three-under. Ireland’s Leona Maguire, who started the day tied for second, was alone on one-under after a two-over 74. South Korean Kim Hyo-joo, coming off back-to-back wins at the Founders Cup and the Ford Championship, started the day tied with Maguire but endured a nightmare day, carding a seven-over par 79 to slide to a share of 17th. – AFP Lille crush Lens title charge LENS suffered a potentially fatal blow to their unlikely Ligue 1 title bid with a 3-0 loss away to northern derby rivals Lille yesterday. Pierre Sage’s team have surprisingly been Paris Saint Germain’s closest challengers in France this season but they were swept aside by an in-form Lille. Hakon Haraldsson turned in Matias Fernandez-Pardo’s clever pass just before halftime at the Stade Pierre-Mauroy. Felix Correia pounced on a stray back-pass from Matthieu Udol to score a second for Lille five minutes after the break. Fernandez-Pardo sealed a fifth win in six games for Lille from the penalty spot after a handball by Ismaelo Ganiou. “You can lose but not in the way we did in a game like this. Now we have a duty to react,” Sage told broadcaster Ligue 1+ . “We didn’t turn up. It’s as if we were looking at ourselves in the mirror and seeing a different version of us.” Lille climbed up two places to third after extending their unbeaten run to eight matches, with Lens still four points behind PSG and having played a game more than the league leaders, who brushed past Toulouse 3-1 earlier. Strasbourg beat Nice 3-1 despite losing Argentina striker Joaquin Panichelli to a long-term knee injury suffered while on international duty last week. Esteban Lepaul joined Panichelli on 16 goals for the season as he converted a pair of penalties to lift Rennes to a 4-3 win at Brest. Swiss forward Breel Embolo also scored as Rennes moved up to sixth after inflicting a third straight loss on mid-table Brest. – AFP

LAUREN COUGHLIN fired a one-over par 73 to emerge from another testing day at Shadow Creek with a two-stroke lead over Nelly Korda in the LPGA Aramco Championship. Swirling, sometimes gusty winds again pushed up scores yesterday on the demanding course in Las Vegas, Nevada, where only eight players recorded rounds under par. That included world No. 2 Korda, who had four birdies and a bogey in her three-under 69. gathered in Baghdad yesterday to welcome home the triumphant Iraqi foot ball team, fresh off their qualifi cation for the World Cup. Iraq, whose preparations were disrupted by the war in the Middle East, sealed their first appearance at the finals in 40 years and will play in Group I against France, Senegal and Norway. Goals from Ali Al-Hamadi and Aymen Hussein secured a famous win for Iraq, whose last appearance at the World Cup came at Mexico in 1986. Known as the “Lions of Mesopotamia”, the players were greeted by Prime Minister Shia al-Sudani on their return and were driven in an open-topped bus through the capital – cheered by thousands of men, women and children. Hassan Khalifa, who attended the celebrations, told AFP it was “a memory that will remain etched in our minds”. “This qualification for the World Cup marks the beginning of a new era in the history of Iraqi foot ball,” he said. In a statement, the Iraqi cabinet said in light of the“his toric achievement” the team would be given residential prop erties, granted diplomatic pass ports – and a song about their achievements would be com missioned. The statement also sug gested that commemorative stamps be issued, a mural be painted in the capital, and a street in each governorate should be named after the “Lions of Mesopotamia”. The statement said the meas ures would be approved in an upcoming cabinet meeting. – AFP

up. Second-placed Real were beaten 2-1 at Mallorca earlier on and Barca capitalised at the Metropolitano stadium to take a big step towards defending the league title. Coach Hansi Flick said the race for the Spanish crown was not over but admitted it was an important victory. “We have eight games to play and for me nothing is done, we have to stay focused,” said Flick. “The (players) were happy, everyone knows that these were big points today... but everyone knows it’s not done.” Marcus Rashford pulled Barca level after Giuliano Simeone opened the scoring for the hosts in the first half. Atletico midfielder Nico Gonzalez was sent

Barcelona defender Gerard Martin was dismissed early in the second half as he thumped the ball away but then clattered Thiago Almada with a high foot. However after a VAR review the red card was revoked, much to Atletico’s fury.

Barca struggled to make their numerical advantage count until late on when Joao Cancelo’s shot was pushed out by Musso, only for substitute Lewandowski to cleverly turn home with his shoulder.

off just before the break and his team dug deep with 10 men to try and avoid defeat, which they almost managed. Veteran Polish striker Lewandowski had other ideas and used his shoulder to deflect home a rebound from

“When it was 11 against 11 we were better, that gives us confidence,” said Atletico

stopper Musso. Flick said both teams would be better in the Champions League quarterfinal first leg on Thursday. “There is the Champions League, where every player has 5-10 percent more to give,” said Flick. Earlier, Vedat Muriqi’s late strike secured Mallorca a shock late win over Los Blancos . Alvaro Arbeloa’s side thought they had rescued a point after Eder Militao nodded home with two minutes remaining to level Manu Morlanes’s opener before Muriqi pounced to help the hosts climb to 17th. “For me it is easy to see but the hard thing is for the players to know that without giving 200 percent today, we were not going to win,” Arbeloa told reporters.

point-blank range after 87 minutes. “We all knew what happened in the afternoon,” Barca defender Eric Garcia told DAZN . “We knew that if we won today we would be taking a big step (towards the title), so we’re very happy.” This was the first of a trilogy of matches between the sides, clashing in the Champions League quarterfinals over the next fortnight. With little left to play for in La Liga, Atletico coach Diego Simeone rotated heavily with Thursday’s visit to Nou Camp in mind. Atletico took the lead in the 39th Coughlin, who started the day with a five-shot lead, bogeyed the third and sixth holes but was back to even for the day after birdies at the seventh and 11th. Her advantage dwindled with back to-back bogeys at 13 and 14 and she arrived at the par-five 18th – one of the hardest holes on the course on the day – just one in front of Korda. Her approach raced through the green into a greenside bunker and her shot out rolled past the hole, but

Barca’s Robert Lewandowski celebrates after scoring the winning goal against Atleti during the La Liga clash at the Riyadh Air Metropolitano yesterday. – REUTERSPIC

“We were on top in the first half but because of one mistake, they scored. Here if you slip up for a moment … you end up paying the price.” – AFP Coughlin leads Korda by two at Aramco Championship

Korda, five-under through 54 holes, also said patience was key in a round that saw long waits on several tees as players struggled to cope in the conditions. “Shadow Creek definitely showed its colors today,” she said. “It’s been playing brutally hard, especially the back nine. There was, like ,a four-group wait on a par-three – it was hard to stop golf balls for us.” Denmark’s Nana Koerstz Madsen and Japan’s 2025 LPGA Rookie of the

Coughlin made her birdie putt coming back to give herself a two-shot cushion with a seven-under total of 209. “This golf course is really, really hard, especially if you get in the wrong spot,” Coughlin said. “I felt like I did a pretty good job of at least getting in spots, and if I did get a little out, making sure I walked away with no worse than bogey. “It’s going to be really hard tomorrow, so just going to see how it goes,” said the American.