In the Rhine derby, the hosts had to be outnumbered for a long time. Leverkusen played their opponents tired – and now has a double-digit lead over FC Bayern.
Bayer Leverkusen’s first championship title in the club’s history seems almost impossible to take away. After winning 2-0 in the derby at 1. FC Cologne, Alonso’s team has a whopping ten point lead over FC Bayern.
Jeremie Frimpong (37th minute) and Alex Grimaldo (73rd) scored the goals for the guests, who were in the majority for a long time. Cologne’s Jan Thielmann was sent off the pitch in the 14th minute after a serious foul. While Bayer remains confidently at the top, Cologne remains in the relegation zone, eight points behind in 15th place.
Bayern had already played at SC Freiburg on Friday – and lost two points in the 2-2 draw in Breisgau.
That’s how the game went
The league leaders initially controlled the ball and rhythm, but without shining. Jonas Hofmann could have given the visitors the lead after just three minutes, but narrowly missed from 16 meters. But Cologne also had a huge chance when Ljubicic headed just wide of the goal (11th).
However, the faint hope that arose quickly diminished significantly when Thielmann stepped on Granit Xhaka’s heel from behind. Referee Tobias Stieler initially left it at a yellow card, but according to the TV images, he understandably corrected himself to red. The Cologne spectators found this to be too harsh and now demanded a card after every Leverkusen entry into a duel. Instead, Cologne’s Eric Martel was lucky that he wasn’t thrown off the pitch after a foul against Florian Wirtz (29th).
Being outnumbered, the Cologne team initially managed to narrow the space. Bayer also often acted awkwardly and had to wait until the 37th minute for the next big chance. But a few seconds after Wirtz was defeated by Marvin Schwäbe, Frimpong pushed a cross from Grimaldo over the line from three meters after extra time from Patrik Schick to take the lead.
But it wasn’t really confident what the front-runner played against the courageously fighting Cologne team. And in the 51st minute he was even very lucky when Adamyan hit the inside post with a direct shot from five meters. When Grimaldo scored through Schwäbe’s legs following an assist from Amine Adli, the game was over.