LEVERKUSEN, Germany (AP) — Florian Wirtz scored one goal and set up another with dazzling dribbles as Bayer Leverkusen reclaimed the lead of the Bundesliga with a 2-1 win over Freiburg on Sunday, while Borussia Dortmund dropped points in a 3-3 draw at Eintracht Frankfurt.
Leverkusen, coached by Xabi Alonso, restored its two-point lead over Bayern Munich at the top and made it eight consecutive wins in all competitions.
Wirtz picked up the ball on the right flank and cut inside, jinking left and right to beat Nicolas Höfler and leaving the Freiburg player sprawled on the ground, before shifting the ball to his left foot and scoring with a shot fired through a crowd of defenders.
For the second goal, he surged down the left flank and took on two defenders, losing the ball then winning it back to set up Jonas Hofmann, whose low shot bounced off the post and went in off goalkeeper Noah Atabolu’s back.
Leverkusen’s pace caused Freiburg problems on the counterattack and Wirtz nearly scored again when he cracked a shot against the crossbar on one such attack, soon after teammate Jeremie Frimpong had hit the post on another break. Freiburg responded with Manuel Gulde scoring a header from a wide free kick.
Leverkusen’s win brought down the curtain on a weekend of Bundesliga soccer which saw 44 goals across nine games, including 8-0, 6-0 and two 3-2 games, as well as the six-goal thriller Sunday as Julian Brandt’s 82nd-minute goal salvaged a draw for Dortmund against Frankfurt that dropped Dortmund behind the Bundesliga leaders.
The draw on a slippery field in driving rain ends a five-game winning run for Dortmund in the Bundesliga and leaves it in fourth, two points off champion Bayern Munich, which won its game against Darmstadt 8-0 on Saturday.
With Dortmund coach Edin Terzic having recently talked up his team’s pragmatic mindset and Frankfurt having the league’s best defensive record, the pulsating end-to-end battle that emerged was something of a surprise.
Egypt forward Omar Marmoush gave Frankfurt the lead from the penalty spot in the eighth minute after Marius Wolf’s hand ball and scored his second when Dortmund goalkeeper Gregor Kobel twice saved from Aurélio Buta but let the ball fall at Marmoush’s feet.
Kobel, who had been accidentally struck in the face by a teammate’s elbow earlier, was substituted after the second goal and his replacement Alexander Meyer nearly gave away a penalty. Meyer seemed to trip Marmoush but no spot kick was given and video review seemed inconclusive over whether he first made contact with the ball.
Marcel Sabitzer cut into Frankfurt’s lead when he scored for Dortmund in first-half stoppage time after being left unmarked on the edge of the penalty box. Marmoush was unlucky not to get a hat trick as he hit the post just before the break and missed the target early in the second half.
Dortmund’s 18-year-old Youssoufa Moukoko made it 2-2 in the 55th with his first Bundesliga goal since April before Fares Chaibi restored Frankfurt’s lead. Karim Adeyemi’s pace set up the third goal to rescue a point for Dortmund as he sped down the left flank and crossed low for Brandt to score in front of goal.
American midfielder Gio Reyna played the first half for Dortmund in his first league start this season after he was injured while playing for the United States against Canada in the CONCACAF Nations League final in June.
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