By Canadian Press

Spectacular goal by Canadian Alphonso Davies lifts Bayern Munich to 3-3 draw

Feb 15, 2021 | 4:07 PM

MUNICH — A spectacular goal by Canadian Alphonso Davies earned Bayern Munich a 3-3 tie with promoted Arminia Bielefeld in the Bundesliga on Monday.

Trailing 3-2, Davies scored on a left-footed rocket in the 69th minute after a Leroy Sane cross hit several bodies and bounced back towards the edge of the penalty box. Not breaking stride, the 20-year-old fullback from Edmonton pounced on the ball and hammered a low shot home.

Bayern dropped points in a game that started with snow falling at Allianz Arena.

Robert Lewandowski and Corentin Tolisso also scored as the German champions rallied from two goals down to avoid defeat, four days after winning the Club World Cup in Qatar.

“We had a few players to replace and the team’s mentality in the second half was sensational,” Bayern coach Hansi Flick said after the end of his team’s five-game winning run. “Today we have to be satisfied with the point.”

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Thomas Mueller was ill while Joshua Kimmich, Benjamin Pavard, Serge Gnabry and Leon Goretzka were either rested or injured.

Bielefeld would have left the relegation zone with a win but had a fourth goal ruled out by a VAR decision.

Dutch forward Michel Vlap gave the visitors the lead in the ninth minute when he turned and shot from 15 metres to mark his debut with a goal.

Bayern goalkeeper Manuel Neuer roared at his defenders, furious that Vlap had been allowed the space to turn after a mix-up between Niklas Sule and Bouna Sarr. The latter was making just his fourth league appearance of the season, one of three changes that Flick made from the team that beat Tigres 1-0 in the Club World Cup final.

Sarr, Tolisso and Eric-Maxim Choupo-Moting started for Bayern in place of Pavard, Kimmich and Gnabry.

The snowfall became heavier and the white ball was becoming increasingly hard to see before it was changed for an orange one in the 13th. Then there was a brief holdup for the pitch lines to be cleared of snow.

Bayern struggled to respond. Sane failed to beat the goalkeeper in a one-on-one after Lewandowski played him through, though the linesman raised his flag for offside anyway.

Then Bielefeld shocked the defending champions again. Vlap sent in a corner that the unmarked Amos Pieper headed in from close range. Sule and David Alaba had left the Bielefeld defender free.

The pitch was cleared at halftime and the game restarted without snow. The sense of normal service resuming was completed when Lewandowski controlled Alaba’s cross on his chest and turned to volley the ball inside the far post three minutes into the second half. It was the Poland star’s 25th goal of the season.

“Once the snow was gone, it got hard for us,” Bielefeld captain Fabian Klos said.

But Bielefeld replied a minute later, Andreas Voglsammer sprinting down the left before crossing for Christian Gebauer to make it 3-1.

Sane crossed for Tolisso to head in Bayern’s second goal in the 57th.

Lewandowski almost grabbed Bayern’s fourth shortly after Davies’ strike, before Bielefeld substitute Sergio Cordova had a goal at the other end ruled out for offside. Replays showed it was a close call.

Bayern (15-2-4) remained five points clear of second-place Leipzig (13-3-5).

—

With files from The Associated Press

The Canadian Press