European club football
- Florian Wirtz scores only goal for unbeaten Bundesliga leaders
- German champions slump from 2-0 up to lose at Heidenheim
Reuters
Sat 6 Apr 2024 17.46 CEST
The Bundesliga leaders Bayer Leverkusen battled past Union Berlin 1-0 on Saturday to equal a league record unbeaten run of 28 consecutive matches and all but secure their first league title with a 16-point advantage at the top and six matches remaining.
Xabi Alonso’s team, who have not lost in 41 matches across all competitions this season, can clinch the Bundesliga and their first trophy in 31 years with a victory at home against Werder Bremen next week. They are also set to break an 11-season stranglehold on the league by Bayern Munich, who have won every Bundesliga title since 2013.
‘The place for me’: Xabi Alonso confirms he will remain with Bayer Leverkusen
“I am very proud of the team. We prepared well and had the right mentality. The situation now is very good for us and maybe we will have something to celebrate next week,” Alonso said.
Leverkusen, long derided as “Neverkusen” due to their lack of trophies in the past decades, are through to the German Cup final. They also face West Ham next week in their Europa League quarter-final first leg. “I don’t like to be compared. We have our own way of doing things and we have done it like that from the start and we have developed that way,” Alonso said. “We want to keep going in the same way no matter if it is the Europa League or the German Cup.”
Second-placed Bayern Munich slumped to a 3-2 defeat at Heidenheim despite leading 2-0.
The Bavarians, who tackle Arsenal in the Champions League quarter-final first leg on Tuesday, looked to be cruising to a comfortable win after first-half goals from Harry Kane and Serge Gnabry. But the hosts struck back with two goals in two minutes – from Kevin Sessa and Tim Kleindienst – to stun Thomas Tuchel’s team. Kleindienst then made sure of the three points and Bayern’s second straight league loss.
“In 10-15 minutes in the second half we gave away everything we had built up until that point,” Tuchel said. “We had chances to turn the game again. But then we conceded a goal way too easily. I can’t explain it. Obviously we struggle to keep our concentration on a high level. It is difficult to explain. I can describe it but it is difficult to explain.”
In Serie A, Milan earned a comfortable 3-0 win at home against Lecce after the visitors were reduced to 10 men just before the break.
Christian Pulisic gave Milan an early lead with a curling effort from the edge of the box and Olivier Giroud doubled their advantage from point-blank range after a corner in the 20th minute. Lecce lost a player just before half-time when their forward Nikola Krstovic was shown a straight red for taking down Samuel Chukwueze, before Rafael Leão made it 3-0 for the hosts after a solo run before the hour mark.
Olivier Giroud waves to fans after Milan’s 3-0 win over Lecce. Photograph: Gabriel Bouys/AFP/Getty Images
Milan are second on 68 points, nine points above third-placed Juventus who host Fiorentina on Sunday and 11 behind Internazionale, who travel to 14th-placed Udinese on Monday. Lecce remain 13th with 29 points.
“This is part of the mentality of my group,” the Milan manager Stefano Pioli told DAZN. “It wasn’t always a brilliant season, for a period we gritted our teeth and felt this suffering inside. We want to do everything we can to continue this positive period, we’re fine now and we have to be so motivated in every single game.”
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2024-04-06 17:21:00
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