Bayer Leverkusen equaled a Bundesliga record of 23 straight games unbeaten on Sunday as they overhauled Bayern Munich on goal difference at the top of the table with a 2-2 draw away to Werder Bremen.
Following a disappointing 1-1 draw away at lowly local rivals Nuremberg, Bayern are one goal behind Leverkusen, who were left to rue a lack of concentration that allowed Bremen to score an agonizing last-minute equalizer.
Despite drawing two games the in-form leaders would have hoped to win, they nevertheless stretched their lead over third-placed Schalke to four points after they slipped up 2-1 to last season’s champions Wolfsburg.
PHOTO: EPA
But Leverkusen coach Jupp Heynckes dismissed what he described as premature talk of lifting the Bundesliga crown.
“I let other people talk about the championship or the title. I think it’s best at the moment to take each game and each opponent as they come,” he said.
“But of course, we are confident because the team is living up to its huge potential, showing that we can play football and we have also learned to defend,” he said.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Leverkusen’s German international defender Manuel Friedrich, however, was bitter at the last-minute header from Bremen’s Per Mertesacker, after a spectacular strike from Bayern Munich old-boy Toni Kroos had put them ahead.
“That felt like a defeat,” Friedrich said.
Fourth-placed Hamburg, without star signing Ruud van Nistelrooy who has picked up a thigh strain, also failed to take advantage of the winless top three, playing out a disappointing 0-0 draw with Eintracht Frankfurt.
Meanwhile, at the other end of the table, bottom club Hertha Berlin finally gave their fans something to cheer as a double strike from Brazilian midfielder Cicero inspired them to a 3-0 away win at fellow strugglers Freiburg.
The win means Hertha are now only two points adrift at the foot of the table with only four points separating four clubs — Hertha, Nuremberg, Hanover and Freiburg — in an increasingly tight relegation dogfight.
Friedhelm Funkel, Hertha’s coach, was overjoyed with his team’s dramatic improvement.
“I’m delighted ... we were more stable, didn’t concede and scored a couple of wonderful goals,” he said.
“This win was a very important step to get us out from the bottom ... we still need plenty more points to reach our target,” he said.
Freiburg, in a precarious position after what was effectively a relegation six-pointer, were “unbelievably disappointed,” Robin Dutt said.
“You could hear a pin drop in the changing room. After we went 1-0 down, the team disintegrated mentally. That was our worst game,” he said.
Meanwhile, in by far and away the best game of the weekend, Stuttgart got the ideal preparation for the Champions League visit of Barcelona with a 5-1 drubbing of Cologne, with German striker Cacau the star, hitting four.
“We want to create an upset,” said the Brazilian-born Cacau, in eager anticipation of playing against the defending champions of Europe in the last-16 first leg match today.
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but