Argentina’s World Cup winner Exequiel Palacios on Sunday struck twice from the penalty spot as Bayer 04 Leverkusen blew the Bundesliga title race wide open with a shock 2-1 win over Bayern Munich.
With a little help from the video assistant referee (VAR), Leverkusen came from behind to hand coach Xabi Alonso a famous win on his first reunion with former club Bayern and keep the champions from regaining top spot.
“It’s an unbelievable feeling. I’m so proud of the way we played today,” said Alonso, who played for Bayern from 2014 to 2017.
Photo: AFP
Bayern are a point behind leaders Borussia Dortmund with the two sides set to meet in the next round of games on April 1.
“That is now a must-win game for us, because it will be very difficult to win the title otherwise,” Bayern coach Julian Nagelsmann said. “It was a deserved defeat today. Apart from the last 10 minutes, they were the better team.”
Bayern sporting director Hasan Salihamidzic was scathing in his criticism of the performance.
“We let ourselves be overrun by a team who played in midweek. That’s not what it means to be Bayern Munich,” he said.
Bayern survived an early chance from Jeremie Frimpong before taking the lead themselves when Odilon Kossounou deflected a Joshua Kimmich shot into his own net.
However, the hosts continued to cause Bayern problems and fully deserved their equalizer from the penalty spot on 55 minutes.
Amine Adli was initially booked for diving after he was clipped by Benjamin Pavard, but the decision was reversed by the VAR and Palacios converted from the spot.
The scene repeated itself 20 minutes later when Adli was brought down by Dayot Upamecano just inside the penalty area.
Once again, he was booked for diving, and once again, Palacios smashed the ball into the corner after the intervention of the VAR.
Elsewhere, Union Berlin gave their UEFA Champions League hopes a boost as a rare goal from Rani Khedira helped them to a 2-0 win over Eintracht Frankfurt.
Khedira stabbed in the opener to score only his seventh goal in 194 Bundesliga appearances and lift Union back into third place.
“It’s also my first goal for Union, so I am very happy,” Khedira told DAZN.
Frankfurt had the lion’s share of the chances in the first half, but the hosts took the lead just after halftime when Khedira prodded the ball home from close range after Frankfurt failed to clear a corner.
Frankfurt goalkeeper Kevin Trapp was left blushing when he let the ball through his legs to allow Kevin Behrens to double the lead.
Union are now two points ahead of SC Freiburg, who climbed to fourth with a 1-1 draw away to FSV Mainz 05.
HATS OFF: After Sinner became the first man to beat the Serbian in a singles match at the Davis Cup since 2011, Djokovic said all he could do was congratulate his opponent A “proud” Jannik Sinner on Saturday beat world No. 1 Novak Djokovic twice in one day to send Italy into the Davis Cup final with a 2-1 win over Serbia in Malaga. Italy, who won the trophy for the first and only time in 1976, was yesterday to face 28-time winners Australia. Sinner, who has triumphed three times in four clashes across 11 days against the usually unstoppable Djokovic, crucially kept Italy in the tie by beating the 24-time Grand Slam winner 6-2, 2-6, 7-5 in the second singles rubber. Sinner and Lorenzo Sonego then defeated Djokovic and Miomir Kecmanovic 6-3, 6-4 in
League of Legends (LoL) e-sports clubs in Taiwan are next year to face tougher competition to secure spots in top international tournaments as Riot Games, the game’s developer, is attempting to bolster the weakening e-sports ecosystem in much of Southeast Asia. In a statement on Monday, Riot announced a new upgrade to the Pacific Championship Series (PCS) — a professional league comprising League of Legends clubs in Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau and Southeast Asian countries except Vietnam — to create a more competitive and sustainable ecosystem. It plans to add the top three League of Legends Japan League (LJL) contenders to the
David Benavidez on Saturday retained the interim world super middleweight belt by stopping Demetrius Andrade after the sixth round, while in Ireland, Katie Taylor avenged her only professional loss by beating Chantelle Cameron in a majority decision to become a two-weight undisputed champion. In what was billed as clash of styles that could go the distance between unbeaten 168-pounders (76.2kg), Benavidez (28-0, 24 KOs) looked more like a clinician with a dominating performance before Andrade’s corner requested the stoppage after the sixth round in Las Vegas. Andrade (32-1) suffered the first loss of his career. Benavidez is widely recognized as the world’s best
AC Milan starlet Francesco Camarda on Saturday made history after becoming the youngest player to compete in Serie A during their 1-0 win over ACF Fiorentina. Attacker Camarda took to the field in the 83rd minute at Stadio Giuseppe Meazza aged 15 years, eight months and 15 days, replacing Luka Jovic. “He’s got a lot of talent and intelligence, he knows that he needs to work harder than everyone else,” Milan captain Davide Calabria said after the match. Camarda, who made headlines when he scored a bicycle kick against Paris Saint-Germain in the UFA Youth League, had little to do as Milan largely
RSS