Florian Wirtz scored after 84 seconds as Bayer Leverkusen defeated Freiburg 3-2 on Sunday to extend their unbeaten streak to 38 games across all competitions.
Leverkusen’s seventh league win in a row keeps them 10 points ahead of serial champions Bayern Munich with eight games remaining in their pursuit for the club’s first Bundesliga title.
“It was a good performance, and the victory was well-deserved. “It’s difficult to win in Freiburg, but we keep going,” Leverkusen coach Xabi Alonso told DAZN, before praising his playmaker Wirtz.
“It’s not just the goal he scored; he had a great game. He has significant talent, and I am quite pleased with his progress.”
Wirtz, one of Leverkusen’s main players this season, kicked things off in style. The German attacker cut in from the left and blasted a beautiful shot with his right foot, scoring his sixth league goal of the season.
The early goal startled Freiburg, who had just suffered a 5-0 defeat to West Ham in the Europa League, with Leverkusen set to face the Londoners in the competition’s quarter-finals next month.
Freiburg reacted against the run of play, with Japan forward Ritsu Doan exchanging passes with Lucas Hoeler before drilling a low shot past the unsighted Lukas Hradecky.
However, Leverkusen regained the lead just before halftime, with Adam Hlozek tapping into an empty net following an error by Freiburg custodian Noah Atubolu.
Patrik Schick sealed another easy victory for Alonso’s side with a spectacular finish to a fantastic Leverkusen counter-attack.
The Czech striker touched Jeremie Frimpong’s cross from the right into the top corner, having been the Leverkusen hero on Thursday with two stoppage-time goals against Qarabag in Europe.
Yannik Keitel pulled one back for Freiburg, but the damage had already been done, leaving the hosts in ninth place and with European qualifying slipping away.
In the weekend’s last game, Borussia Dortmund came from behind to defeat Eintracht Frankfurt 3-1, keeping them a point ahead of RB Leipzig in the race for fourth place.
Dortmund, who defeated PSV Eindhoven in the Champions League last week to go to the quarter-finals against Atletico Madrid, fell behind to a breakaway Frankfurt goal by former hero Mario Goetze in front of the Yellow Wall.
However, the hosts responded with a goal from Karim Adeyemi before halftime.
Mats Hummels’ diving header from Julian Brandt’s free kick put Dortmund ahead for the first time in the 81st minute, and Emre Can’s stoppage-time penalty sealed the victory.
“We’ve now won our last four games and go into the international break with a much better feeling than we had two weeks ago,” Hummels told reporters.
“We’re all very satisfied to be in the quarter-finals of the Champions League but, in the Bundesliga, of course we’re lagging behind.”