BERLIN: Patrik Schick showed Bayer Leverkusen what it was missing against Bayern Munich last week by scoring in a 2-0 win at Holstein Kiel in the Bundesliga on Saturday.
Schick, who was omitted by Leverkusen coach Xabi Alonso in the top-of-the-table clash with Bayern, got Leverkusen off the mark in the ninth minute in Kiel after Amine Adli did well against two Kiel defenders to set him up. It was Schick’s 15th league goal of the season.
Alonso’s decision to only send Schick on late in stoppage time against Bayern raised eyebrows as his team had dominated without scoring for the previous 90 minutes and more with both Schick and fellow striker Victor Boniface watching from the substitutes’ bench.
That 0-0 draw kept Bayern eight points clear with 12 rounds left to play.
Florian Wirtz played Adli in to make it 2-0 before the break in Kiel, where Leverkusen’s win narrowed the gap to five points before Bayern host Eintracht Frankfurt on Sunday.
Leverkusen face Bayern again over two games in the last 16 of the Champions League on March 5 and 11. They will be the fourth and fifth meetings between the teams this season.
Also Saturday, Alexis Claude-Maurice scored a hat trick for Augsburg to beat Borussia Mönchengladbach 3-0 away.
The French midfielder scored all his goals after Gladbach goalkeeper Jonas Omlin was sent off for taking down Fredrik Jensen, who was put through on goal by a botched backpass from Nico Elvedi. It was a clear goal chance, and referee Florian Exner had no option but to show Omlin the red card in the 29th.
Mainz defeated St. Pauli 2-0 at home, and Bochum drew at Wolfsburg 1-1 to climb out of a direct relegation place.
Borussia Dortmund WERE hosting Union Berlin later, with the home team looking for their first Bundesliga win under new coach Niko Kovač, who started with two defeats.
Patrik Schick scores for Leverkusen to send his coach Xabi Alonso a message before Bayern games
https://arab.news/8u8dg
Patrik Schick scores for Leverkusen to send his coach Xabi Alonso a message before Bayern games
- It was Schick’s 15th league goal of the season
- Florian Wirtz played Adli in to make it 2-0 before the break in Kiel
Two own goals save Arsenal blushes against Wolves
LONDON: Arsenal avoided a major embarrassment against Premier League bottom club Wolves on Saturday, benefiting from two own goals — one in stoppage time — to win 2-1 and move five points clear of Manchester City.
Manager Mikel Arteta admitted that his team had struggled to create clear chances and that the win should have been much more comfortable.
But he said that the manner of the victory would give the team a major boost.
“That gives you belief that regardless of how the game goes, you can always find a solution to win it,” he told TNT Sports.
“But now we’re going to have a clean week. We need to start to train certain aspects slowly, because if you don’t train them, you start to deteriorate a little bit.”
Arteta’s men were blunt in the first half, failing to muster a single shot on target as Gabriel Martinelli wasted a clutch of chances.
The Arsenal boss made three changes shortly before the hour mark, bringing on Leandro Trossard, Martin Odegaard and Mikel Merino for Martinelli, Eberechi Eze and Martin Zubimendi.
The Gunners mounted wave after wave of attacks, and Declan Rice’s shot midway through the second half — their first on target — was well saved by Sam Johnstone.
But in the 70th minute the sheer weight of pressure told to the enormous relief of an impatient and nervy Emirates crowd.
Johnstone flicked Bukayo Saka’s corner onto a post as he scrambled to reach the ball but it rebounded back onto his arm and into the net for an own goal.
Gabriel Jesus came on for Viktor Gyokores for his first home match after 11 months out injured.
Astonishingly, Wolves pulled level in the 90th minute, when Mateus Mane’s flat cross was headed in by Nigerian striker Tolu Arokodare.
But just as the Arsenal fans contemplated a damaging draw, the Gunners benefited from a second own goal.
Saka delivered a perfect cross which Jesus attacked but the ball was diverted into his own net by Wolves defender Yerson Mosquera.
Winless Wolves, with a ninth league defeat in a row, have mustered just two points from their 16 games so far and are on course for the worst season in Premier League history.
Pep Guardiola’s City travel to in-form Crystal Palace on Sunday seeking to close the gap to Arsenal, who have not won the Premier League since 2004.
