Bundesliga
Florian Wirtz’s serious injury overshadows Cologne’s victory in Leverkusen
Serious injury: Bayer Leverkusen team doctors take care of Florian Wirtz, who is injured on the pitch.
© Uwe Kraft / AFP
A serious injury to national player Florian Wirtz overshadowed 1.FC Köln’s 1-0 win in Leverkusen. After the defeat in Gladbach, Hertha BSC fired coach Korkutt. The game day.
FC Bayern Munich has again lost two points in the Bundesliga. A week after the 1-1 draw against Bayer Leverkusen, the league leaders did not get more than 1-1 (1-1) at TSG 1899 Hoffenheim at the start of the 26th matchday. As a result, pursuer Borussia Dortmund could reduce the gap to seven points with a win.
There was a moment of shock on Sunday in Leverkusen, where young national player Florian Wirtz apparently had to be carried off the field on a stretcher, apparently seriously injured. Cologne won the Rhine Summit 1-0. Hertha BSC drew consequences from the 0: 2 at Borussia Mönchengladbach. Coach Tayfun Korkut was suspended on Sunday.
With a 3-2 (2-0) win against VfL Wolfsburg, SC Freiburg improved, at least temporarily, to fourth place with 44 points ahead of Hoffenheim, who have the same number of points. In the fight against relegation, VfB Stuttgart scored an important point with a 1-1 (0-1) win at Union Berlin. FC Augsburg’s game against 1. FSV Mainz 05 was postponed due to too many corona cases in Mainz.
Bayer Leverkusen – 1.FC Cologne 0: 1 (0: 0)
Bayer Leverkusen suffered a setback in the hunt for a place in the Champions League in the Bundesliga. The Werkself lost the Rhein derby against 1. FC Köln on Sunday 0-1 (0-0). Substitute Kingsley Schindler scored for the guests in the 67th minute. In seventh place, coach Steffen Baumgart’s team can still hope for a ticket for the European Cup. The game was overshadowed by a potentially serious injury to Bayer international Florian Wirtz, who was sent off in the 28th minute. The 18-year-old fell to the ground after a duel with Cologne’s Luca Kilian. Apparently his left foot got caught in the grass. He smacked the grass several times with his hand and waved to the Bayer supervisors.
Borussia Mönchengladbach – Hertha BSC 2: 0 (1: 0)
After the next bankruptcy of Hertha BSC, Tayfun Korkut lost his job as head coach of the Bundesliga soccer club, which he only started at the end of November. The harmless Berliners, who were still without a win this year, lost 2-0 (0-1) at Borussia Mönchengladbach and thus fell back to a direct relegation zone. On Sunday, the capital club drew the consequences. A penalty converted by Alassane Plea (24th minute) and another goal by Matthias Ginter (59th) sealed the victory in the direct relegation battle, which was so important for Borussia, who had also been reeling recently. The first win in a month was particularly beneficial for the absent head coach Adi Hütter, who was infected with the corona virus. The Austrian was also criticized.
Already the preliminary decision: Gladbach’s Alassane Plea scored against Hertha BSC from the point to 1-0. In the end, the foals won 2-0.
© Federico Gambarini / DPA
TSG Hoffenheim – Bayern Munich 1: 1 (1: 1)
In a gripping top-flight Bundesliga game and in glorious sunshine, FC Bayern Munich showed themselves to be in the best of moods – but for one thing they forgot to score and for another they were unlucky with three offside goals. The league leaders only drew 1-1 (1-1) at Champions League aspirants TSG 1899 Hoffenheim on Saturday. Four days after the 7-1 win against RB Salzburg in the premier class, coach Julian Nagelsmann’s team at his former job failed when they had numerous chances. In front of 25,600 spectators in the sold-out Sinsheim stadium, Christoph Baumgartner even gave the Kraichgau team the lead (32nd minute). Robert Lewandowski equalized with his 29th goal of the season (45+3). In the table, the German champions are now ten points ahead of Borussia Dortmund, who play Arminia Bielefeld on Sunday and still have the catch-up game in Mainz. For TSG, the series of four wins ended with a respectable draw against the defending champion.
SC Freiburg – VfL Wolfsburg 3: 2 (2: 0)
Thanks to a strong Vincenzo Grifo and winning goal scorer Nico Schlotterbeck, SC Freiburg can hope more and more for the Champions League qualification. National defender Schlotterbeck scored the late goal to make it 3-2 (2-0) against VfL Wolfsburg and ensured success in the turbulent final phase (87th minute). After Max Kruse connected against his ex-club (52nd), Maximilian Arnold had only recently equalized for Lower Saxony, who had only improved in the second half (84th). At the beginning Grifo put the Breisgauer in the lead in the first game after coach Christian Streich renewed his contract with his first brace in the Bundesliga. In front of 25,000 spectators, the offensive player scored with a direct free kick (7th minute) and followed up with a direct acceptance (44th). Freiburg, weakened by the corona-related failures of regular players Philipp Lienhart and Maximilian Eggestein, initially moved up to fourth place.
Union Berlin – VfB Stuttgart 1: 1 (1: 0)
Sasa Kalajdzic gave VfB Stuttgart further hope in the relegation battle with a last-minute goal. The Austrian helped the Swabians to an important and flattering point win with his goal in the 90th minute to make it 1-1 (0-1) at 1. FC Union Berlin. Taiwo Awoniyi (41st minute) put the superior Irons in the lead with a hand penalty. But it wasn’t enough to win the 150th game under coach Urs Fischer in front of 16,509 spectators. Thanks to the defeat of Hertha BSC, VfB overtook the Berliners and left 17th place. Union thus also missed the symbolic mark of 40 points as the minimum target set by Fischer. The Berliners have 38 points to their credit.