In front of direct duel
Zero number in Wolfsburg: Leverkusen lets Bavaria pull
Updated on 08/08/2025 – 5:36 p.m.Reading time: 3 min.
After the victory of Bayern on Friday evening, Leverkusen wanted to reappear against Wolfsburg with three points. But that failed.
Bayer 04 Leverkusen has to accept a setback in the championship fight of the Bundesliga. At VfL Wolfsburg, the reigning German champion did not get over a 0-0 draw on Saturday afternoon. After FC Bayern’s 3-0 win on Friday evening against Bremen, the Leverkuseners will now be eight points behind the Munich before the direct duel this weekend.
In Wolfsburg, the team of coach Xabi Alonso had extremely difficult to get clear chances over the entire duration of the game. On the contrary: the larger possibilities had the hosts from the Autostadt for a long time. It was only in the final phase that the Leverkuseners began to besiege the Wolfsburg penalty area. A hit just didn’t want to succeed.
After the highly emotional derby victory and associated semi-finals in the DFB Cup against 1. FC Köln (3: 2 NV), Alonso switched to eight positions. Only Nordi Mukiele, Jonathan Tah and Granit Xhaka remained in the first eleven, Victor Boniface began in the attack center instead of Patrik Schick – and Florian Wirtz also got a break.
But there was little to see from freshness at first. Wolfsburg tore the game in the early minutes – and was the first to cheer. The header from Konstantinos Koulierakis was withdrawn after one offside position (7th).
Bayer was missing the ease on the offensive without the creative players Wirtz, Jeremie Frimpong and Alejandro Grimaldo (yellow lock), and it took 22 minutes until the first chance. Mukiele came to the header after a corner kick free -standing, but could no longer press the ball from one meter.
VfL goalkeeper Marius Müller, who represented the injured Kamil Grabara, did not have to grab it once in the first half, the Bayer game seemed without ideas. On the other hand, captain Lukas Hradecky saved his team against Tiago Tomás twice within seconds before one behind.
Even after the break, the game remained tough, the degrees of Mario Hermoso (47th) and Xhaka (50th) brought little danger for Bayer. It was only after 59 minutes of Alonso, brought Wirtz and Frimpong as well as later Schick and Emiliano Buendia (75th). After a supposed foul on Wirtz, Bayer called for a penalty, but Mukiele had been offside in advance (78th).
The 1. FC Union Berlin has ended up with an important success in the basement duel thanks to Benedict Hollerbach. The iron of coach Steffen Baumgart sat down 4-0 (1-0) at the desolate with competitor TSG 1899 Hoffenheim. They distanced the Kraichgauer to six points in the table.
In the weak game in front of 20,023 spectators in the Sinsheim stadium, the outstanding Hollerbach scored his fifth and sixth season goal (24/87.). In addition, the Croatian newcomer Marin Ljubicic met only two minutes after his substitution (61st) and Andrej Ilic (73.).
The SC Freiburg remains on course in the race for Europe thanks to an arduous work victory. The team of coach Julian Schuster defeated the relegation threatened 1. FC Heidenheim in a weak game 1-0 (1-0) and now remains with 33 points to the Champions League ranks. The negative run from the beginning of the year seems to be finally overcome after the second victory in a row.
Vincenzo Grifo (30th) scored the golden goal, Königstransfer Jan-Niklas Best came to a short assignment. For Heidenheim, the air in the basement becomes thinner and thinner after just one win from the last 15 league games. The team of Frank Schmidt is still on the relegation place, but Holstein Kiel could pass on Sunday with a win in the ultimate basement duel with Bochum. On Thursday, the Conference League play-offs will go to FC Copenhagen.