Munich (AFP)
Bayer Leverkusen held on to the top of the German Football League, beating its guest Freiburg 2-1, at the end of the ninth stage of the competition.
The men of Spanish coach Xabi Alonso achieved their eighth victory, raising their score at the top to 25 points, two points ahead of Bayern Munich, the defending champion, and 4 points ahead of Stuttgart, and Borussia Dortmund, third and fourth respectively, with 21 points each.
Alonso said after his team’s victory, “I’m very happy. They put a lot of pressure on us in the end, but sometimes it’s good to win games like this, and we have to suffer a little.”
Leverkusen also maintained its unbeaten record in the league (8 wins to a draw) in an ideal start on various fronts, as it won its three matches in the Europa League competition, and in its match in the round of 32 in the local cup, raising its number of victories to 12 of 13 official matches.
With 25 points out of a possible 27, the teammates of Finnish goalkeeper Lukas Hradecky made the best start to this season for the “Factory XI” team, one of the titles of the club founded by the chemist Bayer in 1904.
Leverkusen hopes to get rid of the curse of occupying second place, without being able to win the title, as it finished runner-up on five occasions.
This stage witnessed a total of 42 goals scored in 9 matches, with an average of 4.7 goals per match, as Bayern’s victory over Darmstadt 8-0 and Leipzig’s victory over Cologne 6-0 had the lion’s share.
Leverkusen opened the scoring, after an individual effort from its young midfielder, Florian Wirtz, 20, in the 37th minute. He manipulated Freiburg’s defense inside the area and shot with his left foot, before leading a counterattack and climbing the ball 50 meters, so his team doubled the score thanks to Jonas Hoffmann’s shot. «60», and Freiburg scored the goal to reduce the difference through Manuel Golde «70».
Borussia Dortmund snatched a fatal draw at Eintracht Frankfurt 3-3, keeping its record unbeaten in the league.
Dortmund fell behind with two goals scored by Egyptian striker Omar Marmoush in the 8th and 24th minutes from a penalty kick, before leveling the balance with goals from Austrian Marcel Sabitzer (45+1) and substitute Youssoufa Moukoko (54).
Dortmund fell behind again 2-3, after conceding to Algerian international midfielder Fares Chaybi (68), before snatching the equalizer thanks to a joint play between the other two substitutes, scorer Julian Brandt and passer Karim Adeyemi (82).
Dortmund lost the efforts of its Swiss goalkeeper, Gregor Koppel, who left the field in the 26th minute, after he was hit on the nose by an involuntary elbow from his defender, Niko Schlotterbeck.
It is Dortmund’s third draw this season, compared to 6 wins, a week before it hosts the “Classic” match at its home stadium, Westfalenstadion, against its traditional rival, Bayern Munich.
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