Robert Lewandowski was Bayern Munich's matchwinner. Alexander Hassenstein/Getty Images
Bundesliga leaders Bayern Munich needed an 82nd-minute penalty from top scorer Robert Lewandowski to snatch a 1-0 victory over visitors Augsburg on Saturday and protect their nine-point lead with five matches remaining.
Lewandowski converted the spot-kick awarded for a hand ball, breaking Augsburg's valiant resistance, to keep Bayern comfortably clear of second-placed Borussia Dortmund, winners 2-0 over Stuttgart on Friday, and on course for a record-extending 10th straight league crown.
Bayern, who suffered their first Champions League loss of the season in midweek, going down 1-0 to Villarreal in the quarterfinal first-leg, were toothless for much of the game.
They were shut out by a hard-working Augsburg defence, lacked any real tempo in their game and didn't manage a single corner kick in the first half.
Lewandowski thought he had finally broken the deadlock in the Bavarian derby with a 47th-minute header but Augsburg keeper Rafal Gikiewicz somehow got a hand to the ball to push it away.
The goalkeeper made an equally good save in the 62nd, palming a deflected Joshua Kimmich shot wide as Bayern started to make some inroads.
Bayern finally won the penalty after a VAR review of a Reece Oxford hand ball and Lewandowski stepped up to send Gikiewicz the wrong way for his 32nd league goal of the campaign.
Kimmich then hit the crossbar with a powerful shot a little later as Bayern took complete control of the game in the final minutes.
Source: espn.co.uk