Bayern Munich's Leon Goretzka (R) shoots the ball during a German Bundesliga match between Bayern Munich and VfB Stuttgart, in Munich, Germany, on Jan. 27, 2019. Bayern munich won 4-1. (Xinhua/Philippe Ruiz)
BERLIN, Jan. 27 (Xinhua) -- Bayern Munich reduced their arrears to leaders Borussia Dortmund to six points after overcoming Stuttgart 4-1 at the closer of the 19th round of Bundesliga action on Sunday.
The German record champions responded to Dortmund's 5-1 victory on Saturday as goals from Thiago Alcantara, Leon Goretzka, Robert Lewandowski and an own goal from Christian Gentner were enough to wrap up the 13th win of the season.
The hosts ensured a fairy tale start on home soil as Thiago Alcantara capitalized on an assist from Robert Lewandowski to slot home into the bottom right corner with only five minutes into the encounter.
Bayern retracted with the narrow lead and handed over control as Stuttgart leveled the scores out the blue when Anastasios Donis hammered home from 25 meters to shock Bayern goalkeeper Manuel Neuer in the 26th minute.
Donis remained in the thick of things, as he should have turned the tides after testing Neuer from very close range in the 33rd minute.
After the restart, Niko Kovac's men immediately assumed control and grabbed the lead again as Serge Gnabry's shot on target was deflected unstoppable by Christian Gentner ten minutes into the second half.
Stuttgart showed a vital sign in the 64th minute when Nicolas Gonzalez rattled the woodwork from promising position.
Bayern continued to press forward and had the golden chance to extend their lead but Robert Lewandowski's penalty was denied by the right post moments later.
However, the "Bavarians" were still not done with the scoring as Leon Goretzka nodded home a delivery into the box from Joshua Kimmich in the 71st minute.
Stuttgart were unable to put up resistance allowing Bayern to score another goal as Robert Lewandowski made the most of Kimmich's assist with six minutes remaining in the game.
With the result, Bayern stay on the 2nd place with a six-point gap to front-runners Dortmund and Stuttgart remain on the 16th place which is a relegation play-off spot.
Elsewhere, Yussuf Poulsen's brace helped Leipzig to ease 4-0 past newly promoted Fortuna Dusseldorf, whose two-game winning streak came to an end.
