24th matchday
Ten points ahead: Leverkusen uses Bayern’s through ball
Jeremie Frimpong (M) put Bayer Leverkusen on the road to victory with his goal against 1. FC Köln. photo
© Rolf Vennenbernd/dpa
FC Bayern had given the next through ball – and Bayer Leverkusen also took advantage of it. After the 2-0 win in the derby in Cologne, Leverkusen’s first championship title is within reach.
Ten points ahead and only ten games left – Bayer Leverkusen is next FC Bayern Munich took advantage of a direct pass and further extended their lead in the Bundesliga with a derby win. After the not-so-glamorous 2-0 (1-0) at relegation-threatened 1. FC Cologne, seven wins from the last ten games would certainly be enough for Leverkusen, who have been unbeaten in 34 competitive games, to secure their first German championship title. The Munich team only played 2-2 in Freiburg on Friday.
After the early red card against Jan Thielmann, Bayer was allowed to play in the majority for more than 75 minutes on Sunday. The two full-backs Jeremie Frimpong (38th) and Alejandro Grimaldo (73rd) once again scored the goals for the Werkself in Xabi Alonso’s 50th Bundesliga game as coach, who lost to Karabakh Agdam in the first leg of the round of 16 of the Europa League on Thursday Azerbaijan has to compete. It was the eighth goal of the season for Frimpong and the ninth for Grimaldo.
Cologne has to complain about two suspensions
The Cologne team, who were brave on Sunday, are still in the relegation zone, but given that they are eight points behind in 15th place, direct rescue seems more and more utopian. And in the next derby, which is even more emotionally important for them, on Saturday in Mönchengladbach, they have to replace Thielmann as well as Dejan Ljubicic, who received his fifth yellow card. In addition, Justin Diehl had to leave the field injured just four minutes after being substituted on. Leverkusen will miss the game against Wolfsburg Frimpong due to a yellow card suspension.
But it wasn’t just the Leverkusen team who were happy about the competition’s result in advance. Cologne also knew from Mainz’s 1-1 draw against Mönchengladbach that they could not slip into a direct relegation zone on this match day. Meanwhile, FC managing director Christian Keller was not in the stadium due to illness. He missed Sargis Adamyan’s first starting eleven appearance this season and in almost exactly a year. Keller was often criticized for the transfer of the Armenian striker.
The league leaders initially controlled the ball and rhythm, but without shining. Jonas Hofmann could have given the visitors the lead after just three minutes, but narrowly missed from 16 meters. But Cologne also had a huge chance when Ljubicic headed just wide of the goal (11th).
Leverkusen’s full-back continues to be accurate
However, the faint hope that arose quickly diminished significantly when Thielmann stepped on Granit Xhaka’s heel from behind. Referee Tobias Stieler initially left it at a yellow card, but according to the TV images, he understandably corrected himself to red. The Cologne spectators found this to be too harsh and now demanded a card after every Leverkusen entry into a duel. Instead, Cologne’s Eric Martel was lucky that he wasn’t thrown off the pitch after a foul against Florian Wirtz (29th).
Being outnumbered, the Cologne team initially managed to narrow the space. Bayer also often acted awkwardly and had to wait until the 37th minute for the next big chance. But a few seconds after Wirtz was defeated by Marvin Schwäbe, Frimpong pushed a cross from Grimaldo over the line from three meters after extra time from Patrik Schick to take the lead.
But it wasn’t really confident what the front-runner played against the courageously fighting Cologne team. And in the 51st minute he was even very lucky when Adamyan hit the inside post with a direct shot from five meters. When Grimaldo scored through Schwäbe’s legs following an assist from Amine Adli, the game was over.