BREMEN: Bayer Leverkusen cruised to a 3-0 victory at Werder Bremen on Saturday to take over the lead in the Bundesliga with a club record-equalling eighth consecutive victory.
The visitors needed a Werder own goal to go in front, with Olivier Deman turning in a Jonas Hofmann cross and wrongfooting his own keeper.
There was nothing lucky about their second goal, however, with Jeremie Frimpong unleashing an unstoppable shot from the edge of the box in the 42nd.
Xabi Alonso’s Leverkusen remained in the driving seat in the second half and in-form Alejandro Grimaldo made sure of the three points, slotting in from a tight angle in the 76th after Werder lost possession in their own half.
Grimaldo has now scored in each of Leverkusen’s last five away games in the league, a club record.
“We want to keep improving and even today we did not play a perfect game,” said Alonso, who was celebrating his 42nd birthday on Saturday. “That’s not possible in football but our goal is to keep improving.
“We did it really well. In the first half we had a lot of control and in the second half Werder put some more pressure on us but overall it was a deserved win. Obviously a win is the best way to celebrate a birthday,” he said.
Unbeaten Leverkusen, who are also the first club in Bundesliga history to score at least twice in each of their first 12 matches in a season, are on 34 points, having won 11 of their 12 league games.
In Saturday’s late game, goals from Deniz Undav in the first and last minutes of the opening half took VfB Stuttgart to a 2-1 win at Eintracht Frankfurt.
Stuttgart’s Waldemar Anton conceded a freak own goal, the ball bouncing off his head and into the net, in the first half but Frankfurt lacked energy.
Frankfurt, who lost their first home match for over a year, were clearly missing the support of their fans, who walked out in protest over claims of heavy-handed police controls at the stadium before the game.
Elsewhere, Borussia Dortmund came from two goals down to win 4-2 at home against Borussia Moenchengladbach.
Dortmund, winless in the league since mid-October, then kickstarted a remarkable turnaround, scoring twice in two minutes through Marcel Sabitzer and Niclas Fuellkrug to level the scores.
Jamie Bynoe-Gittens gave Dortmund the lead shortly before half-time, the English teenager finding the corner of the net from a Fuellkrug pass.
Dortmund’s Donyell Malen added a fourth in the final seconds of the match, racing away to score into an empty net after Gladbach ’keeper Moritz Nicolas went up for a corner.
In the German capital, Union Berlin ended a nine-match losing streak in the league with a 1-1 draw against Augsburg.
Union were playing for the first time without coach Urs Fischer after the Swiss left by mutual agreement after over five years in charge.
Kevin Volland scored in the 88th minute to grab a point for Union after falling behind to an Ermedin Demirovic penalty before the break.Meanwhile, RB Leipzig were dealt a blow ahead of Tuesday’s Champions League trip to Manchester City, losing 2-1 at VfL Wolfsburg.
Freiburg were held 1-1 at home by struggling Darmstadt.
