Joshua Kimmich’s outrageous lob vs Borussia Dortmund puts Bayern Munich on course for eighth successive Bundesliga title as Erling Haaland disappoints

Bayern Munich are on course to win an eighth successive Bundesliga title thanks to Joshua Kimmich’s superb goal in a 1-0 win over Borussia Dortmund.

The result saw Bayern move seven points clear of second-placed Dortmund on Tuesday.

Kimmich opened the scoring in the 43rd minute when he chipped Dortmund goalkeeper Roman Burki from 20 yards.

Erling Haaland almost gave Dortmund a first-minute lead, but his shot was cleared off the line by Jerome Boateng.

Serge Gnabry suffered the same fate as Haaland at the other end, before Kingsley Coman stung Burki’s palms.

But the game was settled with a bit of magic from Kimmich.

Jadon Sancho, who was not deemed fit enough to start due to a calf strain, and Emre Can were brought on at half-time by Lucien Favre.

Dortmund had a strong claim for a penalty when Haaland’s shot deflected off Boateng’s arm, however, referee Tobias Stieler did not point to the spot and VAR was surprisingly not called upon.

Sancho almost made the desired impact off the bench when his inviting 67th-minute cross was just missed by Haaland, who appeared to limp off when he was replaced by Giovanni Reyna immediately afterwards.

Mahmoud Dahoud had a shot beaten away by Manuel Neuer with 10 minutes to go, before the post denied Robert Lewandowski from doubling Bayern’s lead.

The Bundesliga leaders defended valiantly as they held on for a vital three points.

World 1500m Champion Timothy Cheruiyot will take part in a 2000m virtual race on 11 June against the Norwegian stars the Ingebrigtsen brothers.

The date was originally meant to be a Diamond League meeting in Oslo, but with that cancelled due to coronavirus concerns, organisers have switched to virtual meeting, known as the Impossible Games.

Racing over 2000m, the Ingebrigtsen brothers – Henrik, Filip and Jakob – will run at the Bislett Stadium in Oslo, while world 1500m champion Timothy Cheruiyot and 2017 world champion Elijah Manangoi will form part of “Team Cheruyitot” and will run in Nairobi.

“In 2020, due to Covid-19, it is not possible to have international participation from around the world like we are used to,” meet director Steinar Hoen said.

“But with some creativity we have managed to create a unique match between Team Ingebrigtsen and Team Cheruiyot through international cooperation.”

The Impossible Games will be the first high-level virtual race in the history of athletics.

Both teams will start with five runners and will have to finish with three. The winner of the match will be the team with the best overall time for three runners.

The individual times will count as well.

“The Impossible Games 2000m is a serious but fun event and I assure you that my teammates and I at Rongai Athletics Club will do our very best,” Cheruiyot  said.

“I miss being on the track so it’s good to be focused on something ahead. Tune in on 11 June if you can.”

The 2000m race will pay tribute to the legendary athletics figure Maurie Plant, who passed away in January this year.

Plant’s fellow Australian Nic Bideau from Melbourne Track Club welcomed the tribute.

“If there was one thing Maurie loved more than the Bislett Games, it was the sport of athletics itself and the great competition it provides,” Bideau said.

“I have no doubt he would be extremely proud that during this pandemic that has proved so challenging to sport everywhere, for his name to be associated with such an event would humble him. Maurie was a huge fan of the most interesting athletes for many years, the Ingebrigtsen family, and have loved watching them take on some of the best from Kenya,” says Nic Bideau.

“We have been long time beneficiaries of Maurie’s passion for the sport and the Bislett Games and are terribly disappointed not to be there this year.”

The future of African sport after coronavirus is “bleak” and there is no guarantee it will recover, Liberian president and former World Footballer of the Year George Weah has warned.

Sport across the continent has been suspended – as in most places around the world – due to the pandemic.

But in countries where it is restarting, it is doing so behind closed doors or with minimal crowds.

And Weah told a special conference for Africa Sports Ventures Group that this, coupled with a likely large drop-off in sponsorship as companies reduce spending in the wake of coronavirus-inflicted losses, poses a huge threat not just to individual sporting clubs right across the continent, but also the very league structures in which they exist.

“The lifeblood of sports consists mainly of attendance fees and sponsorships – where these no longer exist, many clubs will collapse and many leagues will close permanently,” said President Weah.

“It is my considered opinion that the future of sports in Africa after Covid-19 is bleak, and is not guaranteed to recover. There will be an urgent need to resuscitate football and other games.

“Health and recovery of our economies take absolute priority, however it is important that the global funding being raised should recognize the social importance of sport.”

The online event, in collaboration with Unesco, featured presentations from experts, athletes, administrators, marketers and government officials aimed at dealing with the aftermath of coronavirus.

Some of the suggestions worked on included a stronger digital presence, new partnerships in social development, the inclusion of some of Africa’s traditional sports in the mainstream, staging more events on the continent.

As internet use has risen in countries in lockdown around the world, it was argued that African sport, and football in particular, has yet to exploit the digital world.

African sports media consultant Gary Rathbone, recently appointed as head of sport at the South African Broadcasting Corporation, said he believes that social media can bring clubs much-needed income to clubs as they try and get back into playing again.

“There’s an opportunity for many leagues and many sports federations to start engaging with their consumers via the digital space,” said Rathbone.

“In many American sports, big international leagues, Formula One, consumers can subscribe directly to content without paying for a TV subscription, and there’s an opportunity here on the continent now if federations can start doing that.

“There are around 300 million people with smartphones across sub-Saharan Africa. If you look at big football clubs in Africa so many of them are not exploiting the digital space on social media. It’s a huge opportunity to monetise the content that they have with advertisers or subscription fees.

“If a club has a million fans and say a quarter of them subscribe for just 50 cents a month, that’s $125,000 a month – much greater than any broadcast TV revenue that they might have got. “

Social development specialist Rachel Aron said she believes that sport can play a part in the continent’s rebuilding process, while benefiting from new sponsors at the same time.

“The sports industry can contribute to promoting and advancing Africa’s social development. It must continue to leverage on existing partnerships, but should also strive to develop new strategic partners – governments, civil society, community-based organizations,” said Aron.

However, the competitions director of the Confederation of African Football, Samson Adamu, feels that the priority is to continue addressing key challenges.

“Of course there are ways to rethink, but we have to focus on issues that were there before Covid-19,” said Adamu. “We still have a big deficit of infrastructure in Africa, facilities are not up to standard, so the problem is still there, but it will be harder.

“We need to develop coaches and youth football, and to be playing matches before we are innovative. Football is the biggest sport in the world because of its simplicity, there’s no point in reinventing the wheel. The continental club competitions remain our biggest drivers, though health is the priority and we’re in no hurry to restart.”

There was also discussion on the value that could be unlocked in traditional African sports – Senegal’s Presidential Advisor on Youth and Sports, Ndongo N’Diaye highlighted the huge interest in Senegalese wrestling as a model that others can follow.

“It’s basically the main sport in Senegal, the stars are as popular as Sadio Mane, everyone in Senegal has their favorite wrestler and we have no less than 25,000 fans for a big night of wrestling,” said N’Diaye.

“We have more than 30,000 youngsters involved in the sport, in 2016 the prize money for fights was over $16m. There’s big potential for the sport that we need to work on, and there are many other traditional sports here.”

Athletes were also given an opportunity to talk about their current challenges and the way forward. LJ Van Zyl, winner of three golds in the 400m hurdles at the African Championships, stressed a feeling that there should be more events on the continent.

“The Shanghai Diamond League will take place in September. It would normally cost me about $800 to get there, but now it could cost me three times as much to travel,” Van Zyl said.

“So it makes no financial sense, and the implications for athletes will be enormous. Student athletes won’t be able to afford it, getting sponsorship will be harder.

“We only have one Diamond League meeting in Africa, in Morocco, so why can’t we have one in southern Africa, or east Africa? And we must have more African local competition with decent prize money.”

The new Basketball Africa League, which was to start in March, was mentioned as a concept that can take sport on the continent forward.

And while a tough road is surely ahead for African sport, Nigeria football great Segun “Mathematical” Odegbami gave a reason to be optimistic.

“Sport is a 700-billion-dollar business, and we haven’t scratched the surface of the business of football in Africa,” he said.

“Covid-19 gives us a chance to rethink.”

AZ Alkmaar have written to UEFA urging them to overturn the Dutch football association’s (KNVB) decision to award Ajax the country’s automatic berth into next season’s Champions’ League group phase.

With the Dutch government banning all sporting events until September 1 at the earliest due to the coronavirus pandemic, the Eredivisie was declared null and void last month

Not only did it mean no promotion or relegation but the decision denied Ajax the title, who were leading AZ on goal difference with nine games still to play when the campaign was initially suspended in March.

AZ believe they should have been made the top placed team as they had beaten Ajax both home and away in the league this season and believe goal difference is no objective differentiator.

But a KNVB spokesman said the governing body do not plan to change its decision, adding: “We decided the places in European club competition next season on the basis of three criteria: transparency, objectivity and sportsmanship. We are keeping the rankings and Ajax is number one.”