Bayer Leverkusen continued their unbeaten run with a 3-2 win against Freiburg.
The first half started off brightly when Florian Wirtz opened the scoring within two minutes for Leverkusen. However, they were only able to hold onto the lead for eight minutes as Ritsu Dean equalised for Freiburg. The team from the Black Forest would then give Leverkusen a scare throughout the first half as they proved to be the better team at times, but Leverkusen rode the wave.
Just before halftime, Freiburg’s Noah Atubolu came out to block a shot from Leverkusen but parried the ball straight to Adam Hlozek who scored his first Bundesliga goal of the season.
Leverkusen continued to dominate in the second half and doubled their lead when Patrik Schick scored his first Bundesliga goal of the year after flicking on a Jeremie Frimpong cross. However, Leverkusen struggled to completely kill the game and Freiburg gave them another scare when Yannik Keitel scored his first senior goal for the club to set up a nervy final 10 minutes.
The overall stand-out player for Leverkusen was once again Florian Wirtz. The 20-year-old was the creative spark Leverkusen needed at times and has shown why he will be a key player for Germany heading into the Euros this summer. Whilst after two months of being off the pace, Schick finally looks like his former self after his goals in midweek have given him a much-needed confidence boost.
The win sees Leverkusen maintain their 10-point lead at the top of the table and the team can now use the international break to earn a much-needed rest and reset as at times they have looked leggy in their performance in the past few weeks.
Freiburg XI:
Noah Atubolu (4), Kilian Sildillia (5), Matthias Ginter (5), Manuel Gulde (5), Christina Günter (5), Nicolas Höfler (6), Merlin Röhl (5), Ritsu Doan (6), Lucas Höler (6), Vincenzo Grifo (5) Roland Sallai (5)
Others: Florent Muslija (5), Michael Gregoritsch (5), Philipp Lienhart (5), Maximlian Philipp (5), Yannik Keitel (6)
Bayer Leverkusen XI:
Lukas Hradecky (5), Josip Stanisic (5), Jonathan Tah (6), Piero Hincapié (6), Jeremie Frimpong (6), Exequiel Palacios (6), Granit Xhaka (6), Alejandro Grimaldo (6), Adam Hlozek (6), Florian Wirtz (8), Patrik Schick (7)
Others: Amine Adli (5), Nathan Tella (-), Robert Andrich (-), Edmond Tapsoba (-)
GGFN | Jack Meenan
