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Niclas Füllkrug (left) in a duel with Leipzig's Joško Gvardiol
Photo: IMAGO/Roger Petzsche / IMAGO/Picture Point LE
RB Leipzig won 2-1 at Werder Bremen on the last day of the Bundesliga match before the World Cup break.
Leipzig are second with 28 points and are now three points behind FC Bayern, who could pull away more clearly in the evening with a win at Schalke 04 (6.30 p.m.).
In addition, the winner between Union Berlin and SC Freiburg (Sunday, 5:30 p.m.) would move past RB.
Eintracht Frankfurt can also overtake Leipzig on this matchday.
In the other games on matchday 15, Bayer Leverkusen won 2-0 against VfB Stuttgart, Hertha BSC ended their negative streak after beating 1. FC Köln 2-0.
Hoffenheim lost 1-2 against the in-form VfL Wolfsburg, the league penultimate VfL Bochum won 1-0 at FC Augsburg and increased the pressure in the table basement.
At Werder, Niclas Füllkrug, nominated for the World Cup in Qatar, was back in the starting XI.
Bremen's top attacker, who has not yet played an international match, missed the 6-1 defeat at Bayern during the week due to back problems.
The focus should initially be on a striker from the opposing team: after Bremen lost the ball, RB quickly pushed forward and after a pass from Emil Forsberg it was André Silva who gave Leipzig the lead with a shot from almost twelve meters (13th minute).
Almost eleven minutes later, Füllkrug missed Bremen's best chance to equalize up to that point, surprisingly getting the ball from close range and failing at Leipzig keeper Janis Blaswich.
The previously one-sided game became more open and in the second half Christian Groß rewarded Bremen with a slightly deflected long-range shot – equalizer (57th).
The promoted team from Bremen then came under increasing pressure and fell behind again in the 71st minute.
After a pass from Silva, Xaver Schlager prevailed in the Bremen penalty area and completed the goal to make it 2-1.
Leipzig has stabilized enormously under Dortmund's ex-coach Marco Rose.
The team is now undefeated since mid-September and unbeaten 13 competitive games in a row.
Werder is in the middle of the league.
At VfB, before the World Cup break, the Stuttgart interim coach Michael Wimmer was back on the bench, who had previously won four games in six competitive matches.
It is still unclear whether it will become a permanent solution.
In any case, the coach did not collect any more points in Leverkusen, after a deflected shot by Moussa Diaby in the 30th minute, his team fell behind.
In the second half, Bayer's Dutch World Cup driver Jeremie Frimpong first hit the crossbar (63') and then the goal (77'), but he was offside.
But the 2:0 still came – through Jonathan Tah after a corner kick (82nd).
It was the third win in a row for the previously unstable Bavarian and coach Xabi Alonso.
Stuttgart slips to 16th place.
VfL Wolfsburg continued their winning streak in Hoffenheim and caught up with the international ranks.
First, Christoph Baumgartner made the home team cheer, he headed in after a corner kick was mistakenly given (42').
With the last action of the first half, Ozan Kabak unluckily sent a defense from TSG keeper Oliver Baumann into his own goal (45+4).
Hoffenheim was better, had far more shots.
But then Niko Kovač's team countered to win.
Ridle Baku pushed through Baumann's legs (56').
The Hertha fans in the Olympic Stadium experienced a happy end of the year against 1. FC Köln.
The Berliners won 2-0 (1-0), and Wilfried Kangas gave them an early lead with a header (9th).
FC despaired of converting chances: Sargis Adamyan shot over the empty goal from two meters;
Linton Maina's supposed goal came from an offside position.
In the 54th minute, Marco Richter used a rebound – and heaved his team out of the relegation zone.
VfL Bochum took the first three away points.
In Augsburg, the table penultimate won, but the two fought a relegation duel at a moderate level, there were many turnovers.
The dangerous Bochum offensive actions ran through Christopher Antwi-Adjei - and it was the attacker who scored the decisive goal (58th).
FCA had the chance to equalize after a handball, but Mergim Berisha shot well over it (61').
All results, game days and the table of the Bundesliga can be found here.
jan/mas
