By Ben Higlett and Dan Reuben
In Europe, it was a disappointing start for the Bundesliga’s last remaining representative as Eintracht Frankfurt lost 4-2 away at Benfica. Having gone down to ten men after 20 minutes, Adi Hütter’s men were on the back foot for the majority of the game but an away goal in the closing stages from Gonçalo Paciencia gave them hope for next week’s second leg at the Commerzbank-Arena. Meanwhile, Jürgen Klopp notched up his 400th and 401st competitive wins as a manager with two 2-0 home victories against FC Porto in the Champions League and a Chelsea side desperately hindered by out-of-his-depth manager, Maurizio Sarri, in the Premier League.
Meanwhile, in Formula 1’s 1000th race, Ferrari’s decision to order Charles LeClerc to hand over third position to his German teammate Sebastian Vettel failed to pay off in China as Lewis Hamilton eased to his 75th career victory. Vettel could not keep up the pace that LeClerc had sustained in chasing down Valteri Bottas in second position but the German clung onto third place in the third race of the season – he is, however, already 31 points behind Lewis Hamilton in the standings. The Bundesliga title race looks set for a grandstand finish as both Dortmund and Bayern won on Matchday 29, albeit in contrasting fashions. With the advantage of playing on Saturday, a Jadon Sancho double had looked to have seen Dortmund to a comfortable victory over Mainz. But with seven minutes to go, the visitors pulled one back and in a frantic conclusion, it took some Roman Bürki heroics to see Die Schwarzgelben over the line. Meanwhile, Bayern found things decidedly easier in Düsseldorf on Sunday. With Kingsley Coman in inspired form, Niko Kovac’s men eased to a 4-1 win, leaving them a point clear at the top and possessing a vastly superior goal difference with five games to play.
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