Berlin (AFP) – The leader Bayer Leverkusen suffered more than expected but won 2-1 on their visit to Heidenheim, this Saturday on the 22nd day of the Bundesliga, where several matches were once again disrupted by fans’ protests against a commercial agreement in German football.
First modification: 02/17/2024 – 21:03
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Leverkusen is now provisionally eight points ahead of Bayern Munich. The Bavarian giant, second in the table and defeated 3-0 last weekend by the leader, plays on Sunday in Bochum.
In this Saturday’s match, Bayer Leverkusen was harassed throughout the second half by a team that had not lost in eight games and is tenth in the standings. Jeremie Frimpong (45+2) put Xabi Alonso’s team ahead and in the 81st minute Amine Adli scored the second, which at that moment seemed to give definitive peace of mind.
However, the final minutes were anything but peaceful for Leverkusen: Tim Kleindienst scored with a header and reduced the home team’s deficit in the 87th minute.
In the 78th minute, with the score provisionally 1-0, Florian Wirtz (Leverkusen) had hit the crossbar.
Despite the anguish of the final moments, after Heidenheim’s goal, Bayer Leverkusen achieved its eighteenth victory in this Bundesliga, where it has accumulated 58 points and seems to be heading straight towards the title.
It was also a symbolic gift for Spanish coach Xabi Alonso for his 500th day on the team’s bench.
“I’m not going to celebrate reaching the 500th day. I’m happy with the game, with the performance and with the result. We’re in a good moment, we remain focused game by game. Our performance today was overall good, so I’m very happy,” declared the Basque coach.
The pressure is now enormous for Bayern Munich, which is also going through a difficult moment.
Last weekend’s defeat in Leverkusen was accompanied by a 1-0 defeat on Wednesday at Lazio, in the first leg of the Champions League round of 16, which set off all the alarms. A win against Bochum, just fifteenth in the table, now seems obligatory.
Dortmund stumble
The Heidenheim match was the only one of the 3:30 p.m. local time on Saturday that was not interrupted or disturbed by the fans’ protests.
The rest accumulated small delays mainly due to not being able to start the second half on time due to the throwing of objects by fans, who also extended their protest campaign to this day over an agreement to commercialize German football television rights.
In previous weeks, similar delays had already occurred in several first and second division matches, mainly with the throwing of balls and chocolate coins.
One of the slightly delayed matches was the one that ended with a 1-1 draw between Wolfsburg (11th) and Borussia Dortmund (4th).
“It affects us a lot. It’s not easy to lose the rhythm,” Dortmund captain Emre Can said of the protests. “There comes a time when enough is enough. I hope this ends soon,” he added.
The yellow team took the lead in the 8th with a goal from Niclas Füllkrug but midfielder Yannick Gerhardt allowed the ‘Wolves’ to tie in the 67th.
The podium is moving away for Edin Terzic’s men (41 points), since at the same time Stuttgart, third, won 2-1 at Darmstadt and now has 46 points, thanks above all to a new goal from the prolific striker Guinean Serhou Guirassy, rejoined the team after his participation in the recent Africa Cup of Nations in Ivory Coast.
Dortmund also sees its position within the Champions League zone (‘Top 4’) weaken, since RB Leipzig (5th) got closer to one point by beating Borussia Mönchengladbach (14th) 2-0 in the last game of the day.
Leipzig thus healed their wounds after the 1-0 defeat against Real Madrid on Tuesday, in the first leg of the Champions League round of 16.
© 2024 AFP