Brilliant Leverkusen stretch unbeaten run to 50, Bayern go second without Kane

Bayer Leverkusen stretched their

season-long unbeaten run to 50 games with a 5-0 win at 10-man Bochum on
Sunday.

Bochum defeated a 10-man Leverkusen in May 2023, the last side to beat Xabi
Alonso’s side in any competition, but the tables turned on Sunday with
Leverkusen’s goals coming from five different scorers.

Alonso’s league champions are just one game away from the first unbeaten
Bundesliga season and three games from a remarkable treble.

Leverkusen midfielder Robert Andrich told DAZN he had his sights set on a
“unique” triple.

“We couldn’t have imagined how much the Bundesliga title meant to the club
and the fans.

“Next week we’ll hold the trophy high in our own stadium, which will be
emotional and beautiful. After that we’re off to Dublin and Berlin and we
want to grab both titles and go on holiday with the triple in our backpacks.”

Within three days in late May, Leverkusen face Atalanta in the Europa League
final in Dublin before taking on second-division Kaiserslautern in the German
Cup final.

Bochum lost a man early when Felix Passlack saw red for a last-man foul on
Nathan Tella.

With attacking midfield maestro Florian Wirtz missing through injury, Alonso
started strikers Victor Boniface and Patrik Schick and both had a goal by
half-time.

Schick blasted in an Arthur cross with a superb first-touch finish after 41
minutes. Boniface converted a penalty five minutes later after Tella was
fouled in the box.

Amine Adli, brought on for Schick with 20 minutes remaining, headed in a
corner to make it 3-0.

Josip Stanisic, who scored in stoppage time to keep Leverkusen’s unbeaten run
alive against Roma in the Europa League on Thursday, added a fourth with
three minutes remaining before setting up Alex Grimaldo’s goal in the final
moments.

– No Kane, no problem for Bayern –

Thomas Tuchel’s heavily changed Bayern Munich line-up made short work of
Wolfsburg at home, winning 2-0 to leapfrog Stuttgart into second spot.

Tuchel made eight changes to the side eliminated from the Champions League
with a 2-1 loss at Real Madrid on Wednesday, with England captain Harry Kane,
out with back issues, missing his first league match of the season.

If the England captain returns next week, Kane — currently on 36 league
goals this season — will have just one match remaining to try and reach
Robert Lewandowski’s all-time record of 41.

Bayern captain Manuel Neuer was proud with his side for bouncing back after
the disappointing and controversial loss to Real.

“We were in control for over 90 minutes and got into the game well, that was
crucial,” Neuer told DAZN.

“Real was difficult to deal with, today we had to ignore it – we did a good
job of that.”

The win sends Bayern two points clear of Stuttgart in second with one game
remaining.

Croatian midfielder Lovro Zvonarek, aged just 19, celebrated his first start
by scoring after four minutes. Leon Goretzka was set up by Thomas Mueller
just 10 minutes later.

Four minutes after Goretzka’s goal, Spain winger Bryan Zaragoza, also making
his first league start for Bayern, had a goal was ruled out for offside.

Bayern, who will finish the season without a trophy for the first time since
2012, gradually took the sting out of the match and handed out further debuts
in the final stages.

Israel goalkeeper Daniel Peretz came on late in the second half, replacing
Bayern captain Manuel Neuer who was playing his 500th Bundesliga game.
Teenagers Matteo Perez Vinlof and Jonathan Asp-Jensen also came on.

“Daniel has given the team so much and shown good performances, he simply
deserves to get minutes,” said Neuer.

The loss means Wolfsburg are yet to win in the Bavarian capital after 27
games.

Earlier on Sunday, Hoffenheim boosted their chances of qualifying for Europe
with a 6-0 demolition of already relegated Darmstadt.

Both Ihlas Bebou and Maximilian Beier scored doubles with Pavel Kaderabek and
former Liverpool centre-back Ozan Kabak adding goals against the last-placed
team. (BSS/AFP)