Berlin (AFP)
Leipzig won 1-0 in Stuttgart on Saturday and provisionally takes the lead in the Bundesliga with a point ahead of Bayern Munich, forced to beat the penultimate Sunday to Mainz to keep his chair alone.
The young Spanish international Dani Olmo scored the only goal of the match for Leipzig (1-0, 67th), which overall dominated the promoted Swabian but came up against a very mobile and well organized defensive block.
With 31 points in 14 days, the semi-finalist of the last Champions League is ahead of Munich (30 points) and Leverkusen (28 pts), who on Saturday lost the opportunity to stay in contact with the head by losing 2- 1 in Frankfurt.
Coach Julian Nagelsmann may repeat that his "players are machines", this time the RB had a hard time raising the pace enough to unbalance their opponent.
His men could have opened the scoring in the 22nd minute, if the Swiss goalkeeper from Stuttgart Gregor Kobel had not acrobatically deflected a penalty shot by Emil Forsberg on his bar.
Then, the future opponents of Liverpool in the round of 16 of C1 may have dominated in midfield, they had to wait for delivery for more than an hour.
Served by Marcel Sabitzer, the Spanish wisp Angeliño centered in the box for his compatriot Olmo, who finally resumed victoriously in the six meters (67th).
The end of the game, however, gave Nagelsmann a cold sweat, especially when goalkeeper Peter Gulacsi won a difficult duel against Waldemar Anton in the 86th minute.
Behind the Leipzig-Bayern-Leverkusen trio, fourth place, the last to give direct access to the Champions League, is occupied for a few hours by the surprise club at the start of the season, Union Berlin.
- Dortmund to bounce back -
The "little" club in the eastern part of the capital, known for its picturesque 22,000-seat stadium in the Alter Försterei ("The Old Forest House) with rebel, non-conformist, but terribly warm supporters, is playing the best season in its history, for his second year in the first division.
With 24 pts, the Union will however necessarily find itself 5th on Sunday evening, after the shock of the weekend between Dortmund (22 pts) and Wolfsburg (24 pts) on Sunday at 3.30 p.m.
In front of their "Yellow Wall" still empty of spectators, BVB and its new coach Edin Terzic will play big in this part.
Dortmund have played in the league twice after the dismissal of Lucien Favre in mid-December.
But the team did not demonstrate that they had found the winning mentality that it often lacked in the Favre era: a 2-1 victory in Bremen and a loss by the same score against Union Berlin have left intact all doubts about his ability to consistently perform at his best.
- M'Gladbach wins without Thuram -
Another misstep against "the Wolves" of Wolfsburg (who have lost only one game this season, in Munich against Bayern) would prolong the crisis in the Ruhr club.
The other German team still in the Champions League race, Borussia Mönchengladbach, won 1-0 on the lawn of potential barrage Bielefeld.
Swiss striker Breel Embolo allowed the "Colts" to realize their enormous superiority (7 shots on target against none at Bielefeld).
These three points will do a lot of good for the morale of Mönchengladbach, who is three points behind fourth place.
Marcus Thuram's team, who are currently serving a five-game suspension for spitting at an opponent, had not won any league or Champions League game in December (three draws, three losses).
© 2021 AFP