Reus begins farewell tour while Bayern stumble in Stuttgart

Late goals from South Korea's Jeong Woo-yeong and the DRC's Silas Katompa Mvumpa saw Bayern suffer their first defeat in Stuttgart since 2007. "It is what it is. This game was sandwiched between the two Real Madrid games and we're not going to waste a second thinking about it now. It's annoying, but nothing more than that," Bayern coach Thomas Tuchel told Sky after the final whistle.

Stuttgart took the lead with a smash-and-grab goal just before the half-hour mark, Leonidas Stergiou prodding home after a dainty chip over the back line from Deniz Undav. Bayern then equalised in controversial circumstances, after Waldemar Anton brushed Serge Gnabry with his hand in the box, conceding what even Tuchel described as "a soft penalty".

Harry Kane converted the spotkick, taking his season tally to 36 goals, moving to within just four of Robert Lewandowski's Bundesliga record. But an 83rd minute header from Jeong put Stuttgart back in front before Silas sealed the win in stoppage time.

"We had chances to go ahead today and we will need to take our chances better against Real Madrid," said Gnabry. While Bayern head to Madrid with their tails between their legs, fellow Champions League semi-finalists Dortmund were in fine form ahead of their trip to Paris Saint-Germain on Tuesday.

 

May 4, 2024

Ovations for Reus

It was a particularly emotional afternoon for Reus, who had announced on Friday that after 12 years at Dortmund he would leave at the end of the season. Youssoufa Moukoko gave Dortmund the lead early on, flicking the ball in from close range after some chaotic defending from Augsburg. Donyell Malen doubled the lead on 20 minutes, heading home an inswinging corner from English winger Jamie Bynoe-Gittens.

Moukoko added another from a corner shortly afterwards, before Ruben Vargas pulled one back for Augsburg against the run of play. Dortmund remained unfazed, however, and Reus soon made it 4-1 with an elegant chip over goalkeeper Alexander Meyer. Reus then set up Felix Nmecha for Dortmund's fifth in the second half, and hit the bar himself before leaving the pitch to standing ovations on 65 minutes.

The veteran striker was later serenaded by Dortmund's Yellow Wall, but insisted he was focused on Tuesday's game in Paris. "I can't describe what it feels like for these people to be singing your name like that. Hopefully we'll see each other again on June 1st at Wembley and have something even bigger to celebrate," Reus told Sky.

Elsewhere, Wolfsburg moved closer to safety with a 3-0 home win over Darmstadt while Werder Bremen were held 2-2 at home to Borussia Moenchengladbach. Two goals from Nick Woltemade saw Bremen come from behind after Robin Hack's early opener for Gladbach, but the visitors snatched a point when Florian Neuhaus smashed a late penalty into the top corner.

Two early goals from Patrick Wimmer and Jonas Wind and a late strike from Vaclav Cerny saw Wolfsburg cruise past already relegated Darmstadt. Ralph Hasenhuettl's side are now nine points clear of the relegation play-off place, having played one more game than fellow strugglers Mainz.