Bayer Leverkusen closed the gap on Bayern Munich at the top of the German Bundesliga to four points after Patrik Schick scored four in a 5-1 victory over Freiburg on Saturday. The final Bundesliga games of the year struck a bleak tone following the deadly car attack at a Christmas market in Magdeburg on Friday, killing at least five people and injuring more than 200. Players and many fans wore black armbands with a minute's silence preceding each fixture.
On the field, Xabi Alonso's side were looking to limit Bayern's dominance at the top of the table ahead of the winter break.
Star man Florian Wirtz missed the chance to put Leverkusen ahead from the penalty spot in the 33rd minute, seeing his spot-kick saved brilliantly by Noah Atubolo.
Germany's under-21 keeper Atubolo has now saved the last three penalties he has faced, but there was little that he could do about what followed.
With the game still deadlocked in first-half stoppage time, Wirtz set-up Schick, whose touch and delicate finish provided the moment of quality that the game needed.
Wirtz's early penalty miss was already a distant memory by the 51st minute, when the Germany star engineered a shooting angle and rifled the ball into the roof of the net.
As the rain hammered down in Leverkusen, Freiburg seized on a loose pass to muster a goal out of nothing with Vincenzo Grifo guiding into the bottom corner from the edge of the box.
But Leverkusen re-established their two-goal cushion with Wirtz again assisting for Schick, who headed in to make it 3-1.
Wirtz put yet another on a plate for Schick, who brought up his hat-trick, before adding his fourth - Leverkusen's fifth - to complete the rout.
Leverkusen's Granit Xhaka praised the understanding between Schick
Read more on sports.ndtv.com
sports.ndtv.com
