The in-form Leon Bailey went close to a stunning equaliser when he struck the crossbar nine minutes after the break and Bayern soon made the most of that, as Ribery rounded off a swift break with his first Bundesliga goal of the season. The entertaining first half was initially end-to-end, with the two sides having fairly equal shares of the ball, but Bayern gradually gained control and identified Leverkusen's main weaknesses their susceptibility at set-pieces and Karim Bellarabi's reluctance to track back.Īs such, it came as little surprise to see Bayern's opener come via a corner, with Javi Martinez slamming home after Leverkusen failed to clear their lines.
Jupp Heynckes' men were the controlling force for most of the match and, although Leverkusen found some hope through a deflected Kevin Volland goal, Bayern ended their hosts' 12-match unbeaten run and claim a first win at the BayArena since March 2013 despite Robert Lewandowski's absence due to a knee injury.
Javi Martinez, Franck Ribery and James Rodriguez did the damage as Bayern Munich claimed a commendable 3-1 win over Bayer Leverkusen at the BayArena on Friday, increasing their lead at the Bundesliga summit to 14 points.
