zTen points ahead and only ten games left: Bayer Leverkusen have the next deep pass FC Bayern Munich took advantage and extended their lead in the Bundesliga with a victory in the derby. After the not-so-glamorous 2-0 (1-0) against relegation-threatened 1. FC Cologne, seven wins in the last ten games would be enough for Leverkusen, who are unbeaten in 34 competitive games, to secure their first title German championship. The Munich team only played 2-2 in Freiburg on Friday.
After the early red card against Jan Thielmann, Bayer was allowed to play more than 75 minutes on Sunday. The two full-backs Jeremie Frimpong (38th) and Alejandro Grimaldo (73rd) scored in the 50th Bundesliga match. Xabi Alonso As a coach he once again scored goals for the Werkself, who will play the first leg of the Europa League round of 16 in Karabakh Agdam, Azerbaijan, on Thursday. It was the eighth goal of the season for Frimpong and the ninth for Grimaldo.
The Cologne team, which showed courage on Sunday, is still in the relegation zone, but taking into account that it is eight points from 15th place, direct rescue seems increasingly utopian. And in the next derby, even more emotionally important for them, on Saturday in Mönchengladbach, they will have to replace Thielmann and Dejan Ljubicic, who received his fifth yellow card. In addition, Justin Diehl had to leave the field injured just four minutes after being substituted. Leverkusen He will miss the match against Wolfsburg Frimpong due to suspension.
The league leader controls
But not only the Leverkusen team was happy with the result of the competition. Cologne also knew, from Mainz's 1-1 draw against Mönchengladbach, that they could not fall into the direct relegation zone on this day.
Meanwhile, FC CEO Christian Keller was not at the stadium due to illness. He missed Sargis Adamyan's first appearance in the starting XI this season and in almost exactly one year. Keller was often criticized for the transfer of the Armenian striker.
The league leaders initially controlled the ball and the pace, but without shining. After only three minutes Jonas Hoffmann They could have given the visitors the lead, but narrowly missed from 16 meters. But Cologne also had a great opportunity when Ljubicic headed wide (11th).
However, the faint hope that arose quickly faded significantly when Thielmann stepped on the heel of Granit Xhaka from behind. Referee Tobias Stieler initially showed a yellow card, but according to the television footage, it was understandably corrected with a red.
The Cologne spectators considered this too harsh and demanded a card after every Leverkusen tackle in a duel. But instead there was Cologne Eric Martel was lucky not to be sent off the field after a foul against Florian Wirtz (29th).
Finding themselves outnumbered, the Cologne team initially managed to reduce 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 beaten by Marvin Schwäbe, Frimpong pushed in a Grimaldo cross from three meters after extra time from Patrik Schick and took the lead.
But it was not very certain what the leader played against the brave Cologne team. And in the 51st minute he even got very lucky when Adamyan hit the inside post with a direct shot from five meters. When Grimaldo scored between Schwäbe's legs after an assist from Amine Adli, the game was over.