“Bundesliga”: Leverkusen Climbs to Third Place

Bayer Leverkusen, the defending champions, moved up to third place with a hard-fought 2-1 win over hosts Union Berlin on Saturday, capitalizing on RB Leipzig’s heavy 5-1 defeat to Wolfsburg in the 12th round of the Bundesliga.

Leverkusen struck early with a goal from Dutchman Jeremie Frimpong just two minutes into the match. Union Berlin equalized in the 29th minute through South Korean Jung Woo-Young.

Czech striker Patrik Schick secured the victory for Leverkusen in the 71st minute, converting a pass from Florian Wirtz.

This marked Leverkusen’s second consecutive league win and third across all competitions, as they came into the game fresh from a 5-0 Champions League triumph over Red Bull Salzburg and a 5-2 league rout of Heidenheim.

Leverkusen now sits third with 23 points, two points ahead of fourth-placed Leipzig and tied with second-placed Eintracht Frankfurt, who face Heidenheim on Sunday.

The team trails Bayern Munich, the league leaders, by six points, with Bayern set to play Borussia Dortmund in a high-stakes clash later that evening.

Leverkusen’s form serves as a perfect build-up to their DFB-Pokal Round of 16 match against Bayern in Munich on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, Wolfsburg stunned a struggling Leipzig side with a five-goal onslaught, featuring braces from Algerian international Mohamed Amoura and goals from Tiago Tomás, Joachim Mæhle, and Kevin Behrens. Leipzig’s only response came from Hungarian Willy Orbán.

Leipzig has now gone four league matches without a win, losing three and drawing one, and has also failed to win in its last six matches across all competitions. Questions are mounting over the future of coach Marco Rose, who took over the team in fall 2022.

In other results, bottom-placed Bochum continued their poor form with a 1-0 loss to Augsburg, Freiburg earned their first win in four games by defeating Borussia Mönchengladbach 3-1, and Werder Bremen drew 2-2 with Stuttgart.

Mainz will face Hoffenheim in Sunday’s final match of the round.