Leverkusen won 2-1 at Heidenheim on Saturday, moving Xabi Alonso’s Bundesliga leaders eight points ahead of Bayern Munich in second place.
Leverkusen’s triumph extended their unbeaten streak to 32 games this season, matching the record achieved by Hansi Flick’s Bayern during the 2019-20 and 2020-21 seasons.
Frustrated by the tenacious hosts early on, Leverkusen finally broke through just before halftime when Frimpong’s deflected shot entered the net.
Florian Wirtz, the midfield master, struck the crossbar late in the game but helped seal the victory shortly after by laying on a brilliant ball for Adli to round the goalkeeper and score.
Tim Kleindienst of Heidenheim scored with three minutes remaining, marking the first time Leverkusen had allowed in the league in six hours.
“Aside from the late goal we conceded, we did it very well,” Leverkusen’s Granit Xhaka told Sky.
“The crew is ready. We shown again how dominant we can be.”
Second-placed Bayern, who were thrashed 3-0 by Leverkusen last week, can close the gap when they play at Bochum on Sunday.
Meanwhile, Borussia Dortmund was held 1-1 at Wolfsburg, with Yannick Gerhardt’s second-half header canceling out an early Niclas Fuellkrug goal.
Dortmund scored after eight minutes, with Fuellkrug kneeing in a rebound from Marco Reus’ counter-shot.
Gerhardt leveled after a lengthy pause caused by fan demonstrations against a Bundesliga investor agreement, heading in from close range following a deflected clearing from the Dortmund defence.
The draw puts Dortmund four points ahead of fifth-placed RB Leipzig, who face Borussia Moenchengladbach later on Saturday.
“We didn’t have enough chances on the whole,” said Dortmund goalkeeper Gregor Kobel. “We are not satisfied with the point.”
Serhou Guirassy scored his first goal of the calendar year as 10-man Stuttgart won 2-1 at Darmstadt to go five clear of Dortmund in third.
Guirassy headed in from close range 15 minutes in for his 18th league goal of the season.
Both sides scored in second-half injury time as Stuttgart held on despite being reduced to 10 men late in the first half.
Union Berlin secured a crucial victory in their bid to avoid the drop, American midfielder Brenden Aaronson scoring late for a 1-0 win at Hoffenheim.
Both sides played the second half with 10 men after Hoffenheim’s Stanley Nsoki and Union’s Kevin Volland picked up second yellow cards just before half-time.
Union’s win took them eight points clear of the relegation spots in an increasingly crowded lower half of the table.
Mainz won just their second match of the season 1-0 at home over Augsburg, with Liverpool loanee Sepp van den Berg’s first-half strike enough despite Nadiem Amiri missing a penalty.
AFP