Football Bundesliga
Bayer Leverkusen wins with a last-minute goal against RB Leipzig – BVB shaves Cologne
Celebrating jump in front of the Bulls Picture: Nathan Tella, who came on as a substitute for the injured Frimpong, scores the equalizer to make it 1-1 for Leverkusen
© Haja Hitij / Getty Images
This is how you become champions: Bayer Leverkusen won 3-2 against RB Leipzig in an exciting top game. Xabi Alonso’s team came back from behind twice before a stoppage-time goal secured victory. Dortmund and Freiburg were also successful.
Borussia Dortmund also started the second half of the season successfully with a 4-0 (1-0) win against 1. FC Köln and reduced the gap to the Champions League places. The Dortmund team benefited from the next defeat of VfB Stuttgart, who lost 0-1 (0-0) at VfL Bochum. The bottom of the table, SV Darmstadt 98, scored a point in stoppage time in the 2-2 (0-1) draw in the Hessian duel with Eintracht Frankfurt. SC Freiburg also celebrated its first win of the year late in a 3-2 (1-0) win against TSG 1899 Hoffenheim. 1. FC Heidenheim and VfL Wolfsburg drew 1:1 (1:1).
Trouble in Bochum because of fence flags
There was trouble in Bochum, where the second half could only start after a delay of around 40 minutes. Because visiting fans had blocked escape gates and escape routes with fence flags, referee Bastian Dankert initially did not continue the game. There were also numerous protests from fans in the stadiums against the planned investor entry into the German Football League. Several games were temporarily interrupted because objects such as chocolate coins were thrown onto the lawn.
As with the defeat a week earlier in Mönchengladbach (1:3), the Stuttgart team under coach Sebastian Hoeneß once again lacked penetration. Matus Bero’s goal (50th minute) brought another setback to the third-place team in front of 26,000 spectators in the Vonovia Ruhrstadion.
Dortmund, on the other hand, defeated the next relegation candidate a week after the 3-0 win at Darmstadt 98. Donyell Malen (12th/61st minute), Niclas Füllkrug (58th, penalty kick) and Youssoufa Moukoko (90th + 2) secured the Westphalians a deserved, but too high, victory. Despite personnel concerns in defense, the runner-up again remained without conceding a goal; after the failures of Mats Hummels and Emre Can, Niklas Süle was unable to continue playing after the first half due to injury.
Darmstadt is catching up with Cologne
In the relegation battle, Darmstadt remains bottom of the table, but at least caught up with Cologne and FSV Mainz 05 on points. In the Hessian duel, Niels Nkounkou (33′) and Ansgar Knauff (51′) first scored for Frankfurt, after Julian Justvan’s (61′) connection, Christoph Klarer (90’+5) equalized. Eintracht is in danger of losing contact with the first four places in the table, which entitle them to take part in the premier class.
Freiburg managed to win against Hoffenheim when they were outnumbered. Roland Sallai (85th) scored the winning goal three minutes after the yellow-red card for teammate Manuel Gulde. Lucas Höler (37th) and Vincenzo Grifo (55th) scored the first two goals for the Breisgau team, while Wout Weghorst (57th) and Maximilian Beier (77th) equalized.
The international places are becoming increasingly out of reach for Wolfsburg. Coach Niko Kovac’s team took an early lead in Heidenheim through Vaclav Cerny (7′), but lost victory thanks to an own goal from Moritz Jenz (45’+2).