Florian Wirtz played a starring role as Bayer Leverkusen defeated Borussia Mönchengladbach 3-1 at the BayArena.
Match report
Florian Wirtz played a starring role as Bayer Leverkusen defeated Borussia Mönchengladbach 3-1 at the BayArena.
The influential midfielder scored two goals and set up the other as Xabi Alonso's side kept up the pressure on Bundesliga leaders Bayern Munich.
Leverkusen suffered an early setback with an ankle injury, forcing Martin Terrier off after just nine minutes.
However, they took the lead in the 32nd minute when Wirtz skipped over a challenge before firing past Mönchengladbach goalkeeper Moritz Nicolas.
The Germany international doubled the hosts' lead from the penalty spot just after the hour mark after Julian Weigl's action inside the penalty area.
He then supplied Patrik Schick in the 74th minute, before Tim Kleindienst grabbed a consolation for the visitors in stoppage time.
We'll be right back though.#B04BMG pic.twitter.com/wlwzBfL5Ql
— Bayer 04 Leverkusen (@bayer04_en) January 18, 2025
Data debrief: Leverkusen records 11th win in a row
Following Bayern's victory over Wolfsburg earlier on Saturday, Leverkusen moved back to within four points of the Bundesliga leaders with an 11th straight win in all competitions.
The Werkself's only longer winning streak since their promotion to the Bundesliga in 1979 came last season, when they won 17 consecutive games between September and November 2023.
Although academic in terms of the result, Kleindienst's late strike saw him become only the second player to score three Bundesliga goals against Leverkusen since the start of 2024, after Lois Openda.
Competition events
0' The match is about to start!
5' Highlight of Leverkusen vs Gladbach
8' match event for Leverkusen vs Gladbach
28' match event for Leverkusen versus Gladbach
32' GOAL! Leverkusen 1-0 Gladbach (Florian Wirtz)
55' Highlight of Leverkusen vs Gladbach
58' Highlight of Leverkusen vs Gladbach
62' Penalty goal! Leverkusen 2-0 Gladbach (Florian Wirtz)
72' match event for Leverkusen versus Gladbach
75' GOAL! Leverkusen 3-0 Gladbach (Patrik Schick)
80' Highlight of Leverkusen vs Gladbach
86' match event for Leverkusen versus Gladbach
91' GOAL! Leverkusen 3-1 Gladbach (Tim Kleindienst)
Setups
Leverkusen XI: Hradecky, Xhaka, Grimaldo, Andrich, Tah, Schick, Terrier, Tapsoba, Tella, Wirtz, Arthur
Subs: Hofmann, A.García, Mukiele, Exequiel Palacios, Kovar, Jeremy Frimpong, Hincapie, Artem Stepanov, Francis Onyeka
Gladbach XI: Lainer, Weigl, Kleindienst, Elvedi, Moritz Nicolas, Ko Itakura, Hack, Tomas Cvancara, Philipp Sander, Rocco Reitz, Lukas Ullrich
Subs: Plea, Kevin Stöger, Friedrich, Jonas Omlin, Neuhaus, Joe Scally, Luca Netz, Fabio Chiarodia, Shio Fukuda
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