12th matchday: Wolfsburg dismantles Leipzig, Leverkusen new third

RB Leipzig is slipping deeper and deeper into crisis in the Bundesliga. The Saxons lost 1:5 (0:3) against VfL Wolfsburg on Saturday, and the pressure on coach Marco Rose is increasing again after the fifth competitive defeat in the last six games. Leipzig slipped to fourth place in the table, champions Bayer Leverkusen overtook 1. FC Union Berlin with a 2-1 (1-1) win.

SC Freiburg improved to fifth place with the 3-1 (1-0) win against Borussia Mönchengladbach before the top game in the evening (6.30 p.m./Sky) between Borussia Dortmund and league leaders FC Bayern. Werder Bremen and VfB Stuttgart drew 2-2 (1-1), FC Augsburg won 1-0 (1-0) against VfL Bochum, who were in serious danger of relegation.

Leipzig conceded three previous goals

Wolfsburg took a comfortable early lead almost immediately after each other thanks to two goals from Mohamed Amoura (4th) and Tiago Tomás (5th). Amoura (16th) again made Leipzig’s situation significantly worse eleven minutes later. Even after the break, the Leipzig fans hoped in vain for a reaction from their team: Joakim Mæhle (64th) scored Wolfsburg’s fourth goal. Wili Orban (82′) then scored to make it 1:4 from RB’s perspective, but in stoppage time Kevin Behrens (90’+1) restored the four-goal gap.

Jeremie Frimpong (2nd) gave Leverkusen the lead in the early stages. Union got back into the game after almost half an hour through Wooyeong Jeong (29th). Bayer subsequently found it difficult to put the Berliners under pressure, but Patrik Schick (71′) brought Bayer decisively forward again.

In Bremen, Justin Njinmah (6th) scored for the hosts against Stuttgart. Ermedin Demirović (20th) managed to equalize early on. At the beginning of the final phase, Jens Stage (77th) scored for Bremen, but Werder couldn’t win: Demirović (85th) again made the VfB fans celebrate a point.

For Freiburg, Lucas Höler (41′) was successful in Breisgauer’s first good chance. Ritsu Dōan (49th) increased shortly after the restart. Tim Kleindienst (61′) scored the next goal before Höler (63′) scored again for Freiburg. The SC also remained unbeaten in the 17th Bundesliga home game in a row against Mönchengladbach; the SC did not manage such a series against any other club.

Augsburg benefited from a referee’s whistle. After a foul on Alexis Claude-Maurice, the referee Tobias Reichel gave the penalty, Phillip Tietz (38th) didn’t miss the chance. Bochum remains bottom of the table with two points.