BERLIN: Robert Lewandowski scored twice to give Bayern Munich a 2-1 win over Wolfsburg on Wednesday but Bayer Leverkusen stayed top of the Bundesliga with a 4-0 victory over Cologne.
Leverkusen’s Rhine derby win kept Peter Bosz’ team one point ahead of Bayern before their meeting in Leverkusen on Saturday.
Leverkusen’s Florian Wirtz celebrates his goal to make it 4:0 during the German Bundesliga soccer match between 1. FC Cologne and Bayer Leverkusen at the RheinEnergieStadion in Cologne, Germany, on Wednesday, December 16, 2020. Photo: Wolfgang Rattay/dpa via AP
Wolfsburg hadn’t lost any of its opening 11 games – a club record – and looked well placed to extend that run in Munich when Maximilian Philipp opened the scoring in the fifth minute.
Leroy Sané had already missed a great chance to score for Bayern – Jérôme Roussillon slid in with a last-ditch challenge – when his mistake at the other end led to Wolfsburg’s goal.
Sané gave the ball away in the penalty area, allowing Ridle Baku sweep it right to Kevin Mbabu, who crossed for Philipp. It was the sixth consecutive league game in which Bayern had conceded the opening goal.
But Lewandowski equalized just before the break, heading Kingsley Coman’s floated cross inside the right post.
The Poland striker grabbed his second in the 50th, taking Jérôme Boateng’s pass and eluding Wolfsburg defender Maxence Lacroix before firing inside the left corner. It was his 23rd goal in 20 games against Wolfsburg altogether.
Bayern ’keeper Manuel Neuer made a one-handed save to deny Wolfsburg substitute Bartosz Białek late on.
Wolfsburg’s defeat leaves Leverkusen the only unbeaten team remaining in the division. It produced an impressive performance in Cologne, denying the home side any openings, and wracking up the goals though Mitchell Weiser, Moussa Diaby, Patrik Schick and the 17-year-old Florian Wirtz, who controversially switched from Cologne last January.
Yussuf Poulsen’s goal on the hour-mark was enough for Leipzig to stay third on goal difference behind Bayern with a 1-0 win at Hoffenheim in coach Julian Nagelsmann’s return to his previous club.
Augsburg enjoyed a rare victory, 1-0 at promoted Arminia Bielefeld, with Jeffrey Gouweleeuw’s late winner snapping a five-game winless run for the visitors.
SCHALKE’S LONG WAIT CONTINUES
Roland Sallai scored twice as Freiburg beat Schalke 2-0 to extend the host’s winless streak in the Bundesliga to 28 games.
Jonathan Schmid crossed for the Hungarian midfielder to head inside the far post in the 50th minute, and Vincenzo Grifo played him in to lift the ball over the outrushing Schalke goalkeeper Ralf Fährmann in the 68th.
There were few chances at either end in the first half and Freiburg never looked threatened after scoring in the second.
Schalke, which remains bottom of the league with four points from 12 games, is approaching Tasmania Berlin’s Bundesliga record of 31 straight games without a victory from 1965-66.
The Gelsenkirchen-based club’s next league games are against relegation rival Arminia Bielefeld on Saturday, then Hertha Berlin and Hoffenheim in January.
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Written by Sureis
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