Bayer Leverkusen restore 10-point lead at top of Bundesliga with Wolfsburg win

By Sports Desk March 10, 2024

Bayer Leverkusen regained their 10-point lead at the top of the Bundesliga by beating 10-man Wolfsburg 2-0 at BayArena.

Nathan Tella headed Xabi Alonso’s side into a first-half lead, nine minutes after Wolfsburg defender Moritz Jenz had been sent off for his second yellow card, and Florian Wirtz ensured maximum points with a late second.

Leverkusen extended their unbeaten run in the Bundesliga this season to 25 matches and notched their sixth straight league win to stay well in front of Bayern Munich, who thrashed Mainz 8-1 on Saturday.

Eintracht Frankfurt consolidated in sixth place after hitting back to win 3-1 at home against nine-man Hoffenheim.

United States defender John Brooks headed Hoffenheim into an early lead, but was shown a straight red card for his challenge on Omar Marmoush before Frankfurt equalised through on-loan Leeds centre-back Robin Koch.

Second-half goals from Dina Ebimbe and Mario Gotze put Frankfurt in control and Hoffenheim were then reduced to nine men when Ozan Kabak received his second yellow card.

Freiburg followed up their midweek Europa League win against West Ham with their first Bundesliga victory in seven matches, triumphing 2-1 at Bochum.

Real Madrid opened up a seven-point gap at the top of LaLiga after beating Celta Vigo 4-0 at the Bernabeu Stadium.

Vinicius Junior’s close-range finish gave Real a half-time lead and own goals from goalkeeper Vicente Guaita and Carlos Dominguez put Carlo Ancelotti’s side, without the suspended Jude Bellingham, in full control.

Turkey midfielder Arda Guler stepped off the bench to score his first goal for the club in stoppage time as Los Blancos extended their unbeaten league run to 22 matches.

Athletic Bilbao closed the gap on fourth-placed Atletico Madrid to two points after Gorka Guruzeta and Saul Coco’s own goal secured them a 2-0 win at Las Palmas.

Real Betis lost 3-2 at home to Villarreal with both sides ending the game with 10 men after Chimy Avila and Alberto Moreno were shown their second yellow cards after clashing in the second half.

Alexander Sorloth fired the winner for Villarreal three minutes before Avila and Moreno were sent off in the 70th minute.

Guido Rodriguez and Willian Jose twice put Betis ahead, with Alex Baena and a Sokratis Papastathopoulos
own goal levelling in each half.

Andoni Gorosabel’s first goal for Alaves clinched them a 1-0 home win against Rayo Vallecano and lifted them 10 points clear of the drop zone.

AC Milan leapfrogged Juventus into second place in Serie A as Christian Pulisic’s solitary first-half goal sealed a  1-0 home win against Empoli.

Milan moved one point above Juve, who were held 2-2 at home by Atalanta.

Goals after the break from Juve pair Andrea Cambiaso and Arkadiusz Milik cancelled out Teun Koopmeiners’ opener for Atalanta, but the Netherlands midfielder struck again to earn the visitors a point.

Diego Llorente fired in a stoppage-time equaliser for Roma in a 2-2 draw at Fiorentina to lift Daniele De Rossi’s side up to fifth in the table.

Michael Folorunsho’s deflected shot sealed Verona a 1-0 win at Lecce and lifted his side out of the bottom three up to 13th in a congested bottom half of the table.

Verona striker Thomas Henry was shown a straight red card in stoppage time for violent conduct after clashing with Lecce defender Marin Pongracic.

In Ligue 1, Paris St Germain were held to a third successive domestic draw, 2-2 at home against Reims, as Kylian Mbappe started on the bench.

Mbappe, who is rumoured to have agreed to a deal to join Real Madrid in the summer and was withdrawn at half-time in last week’s 0-0 draw at Monaco, was a 73rd-minute substitute, but had few chances.

Marshall Munetsi gave Reims a shock early lead and, after Yunis Abdelhamid’s own goal and Goncalo Ramos had put PSG ahead, Oumar Diakite levelled for the visitors before the interval.

Monaco sit third, 11 points behind PSG, after Eliesse Ben Seghir’s second-half goal secured them a 1-0 win at Strasbourg.

Canada forward Jonathan David scored two late goals to earn Lille a 2-2 draw at Rennes and lift his side into the top four.

Lille trailed 2-0 at the interval through goals from Ludovic Blas and Arnaud Kalimuendo, but David struck in the 84th minute and then in stoppage time to salvage them a point.

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang hit goals in either half as Marseille won 2-0 at home against Nantes.

Le Havre edged two points clear of the drop zone with a 1-0 home win against Toulouse and Metz boosted their survival hopes by beating fellow strugglers Clermont by the same score.

Related items

  • Journeyman Joselu takes long, winding road to Champions League final Journeyman Joselu takes long, winding road to Champions League final

    Real Madrid striker Joselu was in dreamland after he came on in the dying moments of their Champions League semi-final against Bayern Munich on Wednesday and turned the game on its head with two goals to snatch a stunning victory.

    Joselu, whose journeyman career has included spells at clubs such as Hoffenheim, Eintracht Frankfurt, Hannover 96, Stoke City and Newcastle United, only touched the ball a few times in their 2-1 second-leg win, but it was a night he is likely to remember for a long time.

    He pounced on a rare mistake by Bayern keeper Manuel Neuer, stabbing the ball into the net to equalise for Madrid in the 88th minute, and just under three minutes later, he volleyed them into the lead from a cross by Antonio Rudiger.

    "I don't know anything about being a hero, but I'm very happy... You can imagine," he said. "It was incredible, something spectacular. This team never gives up, it's in its blood to fight to the end and that's what we've done.

    "You always dream of this kind of performance, but not even my most beautiful dreams are as big as what happened today."

    On loan from second-division side Espanyol, Joselu's journey to becoming the semi-final hero has been long and winding in a career involving a dozen clubs across Europe.

    He began his career at Celta Vigo before being bought in 2009 by Madrid, where he excelled in their B team but rarely made it to the first team.

    He was sold to Bundesliga side Hoffenheim in 2012 and then loaned to Eintracht Frankfurt before joining Hannover 96 in 2014.

    In 2015, he moved to Premier League side Stoke City, playing 27 times and scoring four goals, before spending two seasons at Newcastle United. He returned to Spain with Alaves, where he scored 36 times in three seasons.

    He signed as a free agent with Espanyol in the summer of 2022, and a year later was loaned to Madrid and has scored nine goals in 32 appearances this season in LaLiga.

    Joselu, born in Stuttgart, Germany, made his debut for Spain aged 33, coming off the bench against Norway to score twice in two minutes in March 2023.

    "I don’t think Joselu will be sleeping much tonight, he’ll be useless in training tomorrow!" team-mate Jude Bellingham said. "He deserves it all, he’s been an amazing member of the squad all season, and it’s his night."

  • Tuchel: Champions League semi-final defeat 'tough to accept' Tuchel: Champions League semi-final defeat 'tough to accept'

    Thomas Tuchel reflects on "tough to accept" defeat after Real Madrid came from behind to win 2-1 and knock Bayern Munich out of the Champions League on Wednesday.

    After a 2-2 draw in the first leg of the semi-final at the Allianz Arena, Bayern took the lead in the 68th minute through Alphonso Davies.

    However, Joselu came off the bench to score twice in three minutes to send the LaLiga champions to the Champions League final with a 4-3 aggregate win over Bayern.

    "It hurts. It’ll take a while to recover, but on the one hand, it’s a loss where we left it all out on the pitch,” Tuchel told DAZN after the game.

    "Of course, it’s tough to accept. It’s part of reality. No regrets. But on the other, there were too many injuries, a few too many substitutions, too many cramps.

    "We started with a front four and by the end they were all off the pitch. And then Manu, who had been exceptional in saving us all night, made a mistake he wouldn’t make in another 100 years."

    In stoppage time, Matthijs de Ligt had the ball in the back of the net, but the referee had already blown his whistle after the linesman raised his flag, so VAR could not intervene.

    The replays showed that the original decision was closer than first thought, and Tuchel was frustrated with how the situation was handled.

    Speaking to TNT Sports, Tuchel said: "We are almost through, it's almost there and there was a very unusual mistake from our best player for the equaliser, then we conceded the second one in stoppage time.

    "Then we scored one and there was a disastrous decision from the linesman and the referee. It feels like a betrayal in the end. There was a huge fight, we left everything on the pitch, and we were almost there. Now we say congratulations to Real Madrid.

    "The linesman says sorry, but that does not help. To raise the flag in a moment like this... The referee sees we get the second ball, and we get the shot - it's a very, very bad decision. It's against the rules. It's a disaster. It's hard to swallow, but that's the way it is."

    Manuel Neuer made five saves in the game and looked equal to Madrid’s threat until he spilled the ball in the build-up to Joselu’s first goal.

    "Anyone who’s ever played football knows how I’m feeling right now," he told DAZN.

    "That we’ve been knocked out in the closing stages, having led 1-0 until the 88th minute, it’s extremely bitter.

    "We’d taken one step to London; we saw ourselves in the final, and now I’m lost for words."

  • Super-sub Joselu strikes again as comeback kings Madrid pounce Super-sub Joselu strikes again as comeback kings Madrid pounce

    Joselu was the hero for Real Madrid as he scored twice off the bench to send them through to the Champions League final.

    The Spaniard’s late brace secured Madrid’s comeback after Alphonso Davies had given the German side the lead, securing a 2-1 victory on the night, and a 4-3 win on aggregate to set up a meeting with Borussia Dortmund on June 1. 

    With only 10 minutes plus stoppage time to make an impact, Joselu made his time on the pitch count.

    He scored with both his shots, becoming the oldest substitute to score a brace in a knockout game in the Champions League.

    The forward is Madrid’s highest scorer in the competition this season with five goals, netting three of those after coming off the bench.  

    It is also the second time he has scored a double against a German team in the Champions League this campaign, getting his other against Union Berlin in the group stages.

    Bayern were left to rue a late lapse in concentration that saw them concede twice in the space of two minutes and 44 seconds.

    After Davies, who has been heavily linked with Los Blancos, became the first Canadian player to score in the knockout stages of the Champions League, with what was his maiden goal in the competition, it was a mistake that led to Madrid's equaliser.

    It is the first time since April 2021 against Paris Saint-Germain that Manuel Neuer made an error leading to an opposition goal in the competition.

    Bayern have now lost 11 Champions League matches against Madrid, the most one side has lost against another in the competition’s history.

    It was always going to be a tough game for Thomas Tuchel’s side even after taking the lead – Madrid have won four matches despite conceding first in the Champions League this season, the most by a side in a single campaign since they won the trophy in 2016-17 (five).

    Los Blancos have reached an 18th final in the European Cup/Champions League, but this is the first time they will play the showcase game at Wembley or in England altogether.

    Meanwhile, Carlo Ancelotti has reached his sixth Champions League final, two more than any other coach in the history of the competition. 

© 2023 SportsMaxTV All Rights Reserved.