Franck Ribery’s spectacular bicycle kick sealed Bayern Munich’s 1-0 win over Eintracht Frankfurt yesterday as the Bundesliga leaders warmed-up for their Champions League quarter-final, first leg against Benfica. The 32-year-old Ribery produced a magic moment on 20 minutes by drilling his overhead kick into the top corner of the Frankfurt net at Munich’s Allianz Arena.
It was the French winger’s 70th Bundsliga goal and came after Bayern’s Germany midfielder Mario Goetze had his shot blocked.
But Pep Guardiola wants an improved performance against Benfica from his side after Bayern’s below-par performance. “It’s always a bit complicated coming back after the international break. We started well. The first 25 minutes were the best, especially Franck’s crazy goal,” said Bayern coach Guardiola.
“After that, our last pass was not precise and in the closing stages, the players lost their concentration. Now we are focusing on Benfica and I am hoping for a better team performance,” he added ahead of Tuesday’s European clash.
Bayern claimed a league record with their eighth straight clean sheet against Eintracht Frankfurt—no other club has managed the feat as many times in a row against the same opposition. Bayern’s Robert Lewandowski, the league’s top scorer, had a quiet afternoon, failing to add to his tally of 25 Bundesliga goals, and came off with 19 minutes to go.  
Frankfurt, who are second from bottom, gave Bayern goalkeeper Manuel Neuer an easy afternoon with just four shots on goal. With six games left, the Bavarians remain on track to become the first German club to win four straight Bundesliga titles.
They remain five points clear after second-placed Borussia Dortmund later fought back in a dramatic 3-2 win over Werder Bremen.
Bremen were missing injured top scorer Claudio Pizarro, but gave Dortmund a scare at Signal Iduna Park before Thursday’s Europa League quarter-final, first leg against Liverpool. Gabon striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang gave Dortmund the lead by claiming his 23rd league goal of the season with a superb chip on 53 minutes.
But Bremen roared back with two goals in quick succession from Alejandro Galvez and Zlatko Junuzovic to go 2-1 up with 15 minutes left.  Dortmund dug deep though and goals from Japan midfielder Shinji Kagawa, who converted Marcel Schmelzer’s cross, and Adrian Ramos, who headed in from a corner, saw them home.  
“We showed a good mentality,” said Dortmund coach Thomas Tuchel. “I’m happy about our reaction and the performance.”
South Korea international Koo Ja-Cheol netted for relegation-threatened Augsburg as his club lost 4-2 at Mainz. Argentinian forward Pablo De Blasis and Christian Clemens scored twice for Mainz at the Coface Arena as the result bumped the hosts up to fifth.
Augsburg stay clear of the relegation places on goal difference and are level on 27 points with Frankfurt and Hoffenheim, who host Cologne today. Bottom side Hanover 96 are ten points from safety with six league games left after losing 3-0 at home to Hamburg.
Schalke dropped to sixth, and risk losing their Europa League place for next season, after their 3-0 drubbing at Ingolstadt. Darmstadt pulled themselves two points away from the relegation battle with a 2-2 draw at home to Stuttgart.
Sandro Wagner and Peter Niemeyer’s goals for Darmstadt were cancelled out by first-half efforts from Stuttgart’s Christian Gentner and Lukas Rupp. On Friday, Wolfsburg were hammered 3-0 at Bayer Leverkusen in a poor build-up to Wednesday’s Champions League quarter-final, first leg at home to Real Madrid. Today, third-placed Hertha Berlin have a tough away match at Borussia Moenchengladbach.
Results
Bayern Munich 1 (Ribery 20) Eintracht Frankfurt 0
Hanover 96 0 Hamburg 3 (Cleber 61, Ilicevic 73, Mueller 75)
Mainz 4 (Clemens 13, 76 De Blasis 24, 53) Augsburg 2 (Caiuby 9, Koo 40) Ingolstadt 3 (Hartmann 29-pen, Hinterseer 45+2, Lezcano 65) Schalke 04 0 Darmstadt 2 (Wagner 26, Niemeyer 52) Stuttgart 2 (Gentner 45, Rupp 45+3) Borussia Dortmund 3 (Aubameyang 53, Kagawa 77, Ramos 82) Werder Bremen 2 (Galvez 69, Junuzovic 75)
Playing today
Borussia Moenchengladbach v Hertha Berlin (1330 GMT), Hoffenheim v Cologne (1530 GMT)
Played Friday
Bayer Leverkusen 3 (Brandt 27, Hernandez 73, Yurchenko 87) VfL Wolfsburg 0