As of: February 23, 2024, 10:57 p.m
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Leverkusen players celebrate the goal to make it 2-1.
© Marius Becker/dpa
For the 33rd time in a row, the front runner remains undefeated.
But the 2-1 win against Mainz was a lot of hard work and came about with the kind help of the guests.
Leverkusen - Xabi Alonso's Bayer Leverkusen took another step towards their first championship thanks to serious mistakes by Mainz goalkeeper Robin Zentner and set a record.
In the hard-fought 2:1 (1:1) on Friday evening against relegation candidate FSV Mainz 05, the league leaders remained unbeaten in competitive games for the 33rd time in a row - no Bundesliga club had ever achieved that before.
“We have to be honest with ourselves today that we didn’t play a good game,” said winning goalscorer Robert Andrich on DAZN: “But in the end we’re not complaining about the three points.”
But the victory against Rheinhessen came about in a strange way.
Mainz keeper Zentner put a harmless long-range shot from Andrich (68th minute) into the net.
Zentner had already looked unhappy when Granit Xhaka took the early lead at Bayer (3rd).
The courageous Mainz team of new coach Bo Henriksen were able to quickly compensate for this mishap through Dominik Kohr (8th).
In the 80th minute, Mainz substitute Jessic Ngankam was also shown a red card for serious foul play.
Thanks to the renewed success, Leverkusen's lead over second-placed Bayern Munich is a whopping eleven points, at least until Saturday.
Then Bayern have to play against RB Leipzig.
The record champions also broke the previous record of 32 competitive games without defeat between December 2019 and September 2020.
But the three points on Friday were hard work for Leverkusen.
The game started wildly.
The frontrunners took the lead in the third minute because midfield strategist Xhaka simply shot straight at the goal from a good 20 meters, duping Zentner.
However, this did not bring calm to the Bayer game.
Mainz responded promptly with a Kohr header from a free kick.
Alonso had expected exactly that.
“I know the coach,” the Basque said before the game on DAZN about the new Mainz coach Henriksen, who started with a win against Augsburg.
“They will press, be brave, play intensely.”
That's exactly how it happened.
The Rheinhessen, who were in dire relegation troubles, boldly held on and played along offensively.
Bayer was late to adapt to this and had a long period of pressure before the break, which remained unused despite some of the best opportunities.
In the absence of striker Victor Boniface, who is still injured, Alonso did without striker alternative Patrik Schick and instead tried to play with former Gladbach player Jonas Hofmann.
But the national player failed a few times alone in front of Zentner or with blocked attempts.
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Alonso was visibly upset that Bayer was having such a hard time dealing with the relegation candidate.
The Spaniard kept swearing and gesticulating on the sidelines.
His displeasure was often directed at referee Timo Gerach, who actually didn't seem very confident.
This earned Alonso a yellow card, but did not help his team on the pitch.
Mainz, which had repeatedly scored points against Leverkusen in recent years, remained courageous and increasingly presented Bayer with tasks.
After almost an hour, Alonso reacted and brought Schick on for the hapless Hofmann.
However, the victory was brought by the Mainz goalkeeper's bad mistake, which prevented Rheinhessen from scoring another point in Leverkusen.
This means that the Rheinhessen remain in a direct relegation zone even after the 23rd matchday.
Mainz remains the only Bundesliga team without an away win this season.
dpa