Canada’s Davies helps Bayern top Fortuna 5-0 to take 10-point Bundesliga lead

MUNICH — Edmonton’s Alphonso Davies and his Bayern Munich teammates continue to dominate the Bundesliga in empty stadiums.

Robert Lewandowski scored twice as Bayern Munich took a confident step closer to an eighth straight German title with a 5-0 demolition of Fortuna Düsseldorf on Saturday.

With five games remaining, Bayern moved into a 10-point lead over Borussia Dortmund, which plays at Paderborn on Sunday.

Davies made it 5-0 in the 52nd minute, winning the ball off Duesseldorf’s Kevin Stoeger at the edge of the penalty box and then driving through two more defenders before slipping a low shot through goalkeeper Florian Kastenmeier’s legs.

Davies also scored last weekend in Bayern’s 5-2 win over Eintracht Frankfurt 5-2.

Davies was instrumental in the move that led to Bayern’s first goal in the 15th minute Saturday. After Duesseldorf regained possession after a Bayern corner and started up the field, Davies won the ball back. Five passes later it was in the back of the Duesseldorf net courtesy of an own goal.

It was Bayern’s 16th goal in the opening 15 minutes of a match this season. 

At the other end, the 19-year-old Davies used his left foot to block a shot by Turkish international Kenan Karaman in the 33rd minute.

The young Canadian took time to change boots in the 76th minute. “Probably from wearing the other ones down with his Road Runner speed,” said the Bundesliga official website, referencing Bayern veteran Thomas Mueller’s comment this week that Davies’s speed was akin to the cartoon character.

Only Bayern’s players and staff were there to cheer the kind of dominant win which would normally put Bayern fans in a party mood. Bayern has won 14 of its last 15 league games as it cruises toward the title, including a potential title-deciding 1-0 win over Dortmund on Tuesday.

Right-back Benjamin Pavard got Bayern going Saturday with a 15th-minute shot deflected in off Fortuna’s Matthias “Zanka” Jorgensen, who was credited with the own-goal. Pavard got his name on the scoresheet 14 minutes later at a corner.

Lewandowski finished off well-worked team moves either side of halftime to add Bayern’s third and fourth goals. That took the Poland striker to four goals since the Bundesliga restarted amid the coronavirus pandemic earlier this month.

Earlier, Werder Bremen revived its hopes of avoiding relegation with a 1-0 win over slumping Schalke. Werder midfielder Leonardo Bittencourt hit a curling long-range shot into the top corner for the only goal of the game, though Schalke complained of a foul in the buildup.

Werder stayed 17th and in the relegation places but moved within three points of safety. The team has only spent one season outside the top tier since the Bundesliga was founded in 1963. Schalke dropped to 10th and hasn’t won a league game since January.

Schalke and U.S. national team midfielder Weston McKennie played wearing an armband referencing the death of George Floyd. McKennie had the handwritten message “Justice for George” on white tape around his left arm.

“We have to stand up for what we believe in and I believe that it is time that we are heard!” McKennie wrote on Twitter after the game.

His protest came in the wake of Floyd’s death in Minneapolis after a white police officer pressed a knee into the 46-year-old black man’s neck for more than eight minutes on Monday. Floyd was handcuffed as Officer Derek Chauvin pushed his face into the pavement amid his pleas for help.

Hertha beat Augsburg 2-0 to make it 10 points from four games since the Bundesliga resumed in empty stadiums this month. That run has lifted the Berlin club out of the relegation battle and within four points of the Europa League places.

Wolfsburg stayed sixth, in a Europa League spot, despite a 2-1 loss to Eintracht Frankfurt and is now level on points with seventh-place Hoffenheim, which beat Mainz 1-0.

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