BERLIN: Exequiel Palacios scored in the fourth minute of injury time to earn Bayer Leverkusen a 1-0 win at Augsburg, keeping them four points clear of chasers Bayern Munich.
Bayern’s 3-0 home win over Hoffenheim on Friday turned up the heat on leaders Leverkusen.
The visitors looked set to drop points for just the fourth time this season, but the Argentinian world champion volleyed the ball in with almost the last kick of the game from an Alex Grimaldo cross.
The goal may prove crucial in the title race as Leverkusen restored their four-point lead atop the table, with second-placed Bayern having a game in hand.
On the first weekend of fixtures since Franz Beckenbauer died aged 78, each match began after a moment of silence and a tribute to the German football legend.
Leverkusen looked slick early, carving out several chances as they dominated possession, but lacked the final killer blow without injured striker Victor Boniface.
Augsburg looked to have taken the lead through Phillip Tietz with 20 minutes remaining, but the striker’s goal was flagged for offside.
Grimaldo found Palacios in the final minute of injury time, the midfielder slamming a perfect shot into the goal before being embraced by his elated teammates.
Elsewhere, Eintracht Frankfurt won 1-0 at RB Leipzig to leapfrog Borussia Dortmund into fifth place.
Frankfurt took the lead just seven minutes in, Ansgar Knauff slamming a brilliant curved pass from Niels Nkounkou into the net.
Leipzig pushed for an equalizer but Frankfurt held on, consigning the German Cup holders to their first home loss of the season.
Union Berlin held Freiburg to a scoreless draw away, continuing their solid if unspectacular form under new manager Nenad Bjelica.
Union had lost nine league games in a row prior to the Croat’s arrival, but have now lost just one in four to stay one spot clear of the relegation spots.
Cologne missed a chance to move out of the automatic relegation places, conceding a second-half goal to draw 1-1 with promoted Heidenheim.
Strugglers Mainz fought from a goal down to draw 1-1 at home with Wolfsburg, picking up a valuable point to keep them above the relegation spots.
Later on Saturday, Borussia Dortmund can take advantage of Leipzig’s loss by moving to within three points of fourth place with a win at last-placed Darmstadt.
England winger Jadon Sancho in line to play for the visitors for the first time since 2021, having returned this week on a six-month loan from Manchester United.
Palacios scores late winner for Bundesliga leaders Leverkusen
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Palacios scores late winner for Bundesliga leaders Leverkusen
- Bayern’s 3-0 home win over Hoffenheim on Friday turned up the heat on leaders Leverkusen
- The visitors looked set to drop points for just the fourth time this season
Marmoush, Salah strike as Egypt edge out holders Ivory Coast in quarter-final
- Egypt wasted little time in taking the lead as Marmoush scored in the fourth minute
- That set up a siege of the Egyptian goal in the final 15 minutes but they held out to advance
AGADIR, Morocco: Omar Marmoush netted the opener and Mohamed Salah scored the decisive goal as Egypt ended Ivory Coast’s reign with a narrow 3-2 triumph in Saturday’s Africa Cup of Nations quarter-final.
Center back Rami Rabia was the other scorer for the Egyptians, who had little possession at the Grande Stade Agadir but took their chances with clinical precision and held on grimly to book a semifinal meeting with Senegal on Wednesday.
An own goal from Ahmed Fatouh and a late effort by Guela Doue proved insufficient for the Ivory Coast, winners of the tournament on home soil two years ago but now deposed as African champions.
Egypt, who have won a record seven Cup of Nations titles, wasted little time in taking the lead as Marmoush scored in the fourth minute after Hamdi Fathy pinched the ball from Franck Kessie in the midfield, allowing Emam Ashour to thread a pinpoint ball to the sprinting Marmoush. He still needed to shrug off the attentions of defender Odilon Kossounou before slotting home.
But it quickly became clear the Ivorians were going to dominate possession, showing much more physical strength on the ball but without setting up clear chances.
Egypt went 2-0 up in the 32nd minute when Rabia rose above the defenders to head his side further ahead from a corner.
The Ivory Coast, who had 70 percent of possession in the first half, reduced the deficit eight minutes later when teenager Yann Diomande’s freekick near the corner took a slight brush off Kossounou’s head and ricocheted off the knee of full back Fatouh and into the net.
SALAH FINISHED OFF CLEVER MOVE
The Ivorians had come from 2-0 down to beat Gabon 3-2 earlier in the tournament but hopes of turning the scoreline around soon after the re-start were stymied by a simply created, but superbly finished, goal for Salah seven minutes after the break.
Rabia was well inside his own half when he chipped the ball over the top of the Ivorian defensive line, allowing Ashour to run onto it and hit an accurate pass with the outside of his right boot into the path of Salah to score.
An Ivorian comeback was still on when Doue touched home at the end of a goalmouth scramble in the 73rd minute.
That set up a siege of the Egyptian goal in the final 15 minutes but they held out to advance.
Earlier on Saturday, Nigeria overpowered Algeria 2-0 in Marrakech and will take on hosts Morocco in the other semifinal.
