Sublime Ribery volley keeps Bayern on title course
BERLIN (Reuters) - Bayern Munich winger Franck Ribery scored a sensational volley to lead the German champions to a 1-0 win over Eintracht Frankfurt on Saturday that sent them eight points clear at the top of the Bundesliga with six matches left.
Frenchman Ribery, who has missed most of the season due to injury, took off at the edge of the box and sent his mid-air volley past Lukas Hradecky in the 20th minute after the keeper had initially saved a shot from Mario Goetze.
It was the 32-year-old's second goal of the campaign after being sidelined for eight months with an ankle problem and then suffering another injury that kept him out until last month.
Bayern found no resistance from Eintracht and Xabi Alonso rattled the crossbar with a free kick early in the second half with the hosts enjoying close to 70 percent possession.
The treble-chasing Bavarians, who face Benfica in the Champions League quarter-finals next week, are on 72 points with Borussia Dortmund, who host Werder Bremen later on Saturday, on 64.
Schalke 04 failed to climb back into Champions League contention, suffering a 3-0 loss at promoted Ingolstadt to drop to sixth on 44 points.
Argentine Pablo de Blasis struck twice as Mainz 05 battled past Augsburg 4-2 to reclaim fifth spot, ahead of Schalke on goal difference.
Hamburg SV took a big step towards securing their top- flight status, crushing bottom-placed Hanover 96 3-0 with all three goals scored in the second half to move them into 10th place on 34, seven points above the relegation zone.
(Reporting by Karolos Grohmann, editing by Ed Osmond)