Bayern Munich 2-1 Freiburg: More history for Lewandowski in battling Die Roten win

Munich, Jan. 17: Robert Lewandowski made more history and Thomas Muller was on target as Bayern Munich battled to a 2-1 win over Freiburg at the Allianz Arena.

Prolific Pole Lewandowski became the first player to score 21 goals in the first half of a Bundesliga season with a seventh-minute opener in Sunday's contest.

Bayern were coasting until substitute Nils Petersen caught the hosts cold just after the hour but the ever-reliable Muller side-footed home to restore the lead.

Petersen was denied another dramatic equaliser by the crossbar in injury time as Bayern, who followed a 3-2 loss against Borussia Monchengladbach with a shoot-out loss to second-tier Holstein Kiel in the DFB-Pokal on Wednesday, ultimately made it over the line.

21 - Robert Lewandowski (fcbayern_en) becomes the first player to score 21 goals in the first half of a season in the @Bundesliga_EN. Record. pic.twitter.com/S3SbNiEdWW

— OptaFranz (@OptaFranz) January 17, 2021

Freiburg had already lost Baptiste Santamaria to injury and survived a VAR scare by the time Muller teed up Lewandowski to clinically fire home at the end of a slick Bayern move.

Serge Gnabry twice tested the waters either side of Roland Sallai scuffing wastefully wide for Freiburg, while Leroy Sane – who replaced the injured Gnabry after 28 minutes – should really have hit the target with an edge-of-the-box effort.

Lewandowski saw a close-range effort deflected onto the crossbar just before the hour with Leon Goretzka's follow-up parried to safety.

Freiburg equalised from nowhere shortly after when Petersen stooped low to head Nicolas Hofler's flick-on over the line just 16 seconds after coming on as a substitute.

Parity did not last too long, though, as Muller coolly swept home into the bottom-right corner with 16 minutes remaining.

Lewandowski was denied one-on-one by visiting goalkeeper Florian Muller and the hosts' profligacy almost proved costly when Petersen smashed an effort against the woodwork in the additional minutes.