Union Berlin’s punishing schedule finally took its toll on Sunday with a 5-0 defeat after a disastrous second half at Bayer Leverkusen to leave Bayern Munich top of the Bundesliga.
Moussa Diaby scored twice and Adam Hlozek and Mitchel Bakker aalso found the net after former Union midfielder Robert Andrich had opened the scoring.
It was Union’s heaviest defeat of the season having previouslyconceded only nine goals in 12 games.
Union’s third defeat left Bayern two points clear with two rounds remaining before the league’s extended winter break to accommodate the World Cup in Qatar.
Both teams cancelled each other out in a lacklustre first half with few highlights. Then Andrich broke the deadlock right after the break with a low shot after a corner.
The next goal was a gift from goalkeeper Lennart Grill – who is on loan from Leverkusen – when he failed to control a backpass and the ball fell to Diaby, who finished off a post.
The French forward grabbed his second two minutes later, rounding off a counterattack started by Bakker as Union had pushed for a response.
Nadim Amiri crossed for Hlozek to score his first Bundesliga goal with his heel in the 68th, then Hlozek set up Bakker for the fifth in the 76th.
The win was only Leverkusen’s third of the season in the league and lifted them out of the relegation zone.
Danilo Pereira (right) sees his header on its way into the net for PSG’s winner. Photograph: Stéphane Mahé/Reuters
Paris Saint-Germain needed a late goal from defender Danilo Pereira to scrape a 2-1 win at Lorient and restore a five-point lead at the top of Ligue 1.
Pereira headed home Neymar’s corner in the 81st minute as unbeaten PSG maintained their comfortable gap over second-place Lens.
Lionel Messi was rested because of some inflammation in his achilles tendon. The Argentina star, who will look to win the World Cup for the first time this winter, is expected to resume training next week.
Messi was replaced in attack by 20-year-old Hugo Ekitiké, who set up Neymar’s opening goal after nine minutes. Neymar’s 11th league goal moved him level with teammate Kylian Mbappé at the top of the scoring charts.
Fourth-place Lorient equalized in the 53rd through Terem Moffi’s ninth goal of the campaign. Enzo Le Fée sent the Nigeria striker running clear and Moffi fired past goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma.
Moffi hit the crossbar shortly after as Lorient got on top, but then failed to pick up Pereira from Neymar’s corner.
In La Liga, Atlético Madrid’s fans expressed their disapproval after a 1-1 home draw against 10-man Espanyol, a result that extended their winless streak to four matches in all competitions.
João Félix came off the bench to salvage the draw with a 78th-minute equalizer after the visitors had opened the scoring through Sergi Darder in the 62nd. Espanyol played a man down from the 28th after defender Leandro Cabrera was shown a straight red card for a foul on Álvaro Morata.
Atlético pressed until the end but could not find a winner, prompting jeers after the final whistle.
“The reaction from the fans is understandable, no one is happy,” Atlético goalkeeper Jan Oblak said. “Until we start doing well on the field again, things won’t get better.”
Many said it wouldn’t last for long, and it didn’t. They had enjoyed 48 days on top until being dethroned – obviously – by Bayern Munich on Saturday, the combined effect of the champions’ 6-2 shellacking of Mainz and of the weekend’s scheduling. This time Union Berlin had to go second and come from behind, but they were ready.
They were ready even in the seventh minute of stoppage time, when Danilho Doekhi applied the headed finish to a short corner routine to spark wild celebrations at the Alte Försterei and restore them to the top of the Bundesliga, just a day later and at the end of an afternoon on which it looked like pride would be maintained, but bigger dreams would be put into a more realistic framing.
Dreaming but fully conscious is Union’s state at present, with their greater savvy and awareness helping them sniff out yet another win in this extraordinary season. Borussia Mönchengladbach could have done with a dose of Urs Fischer’s smelling salts, perhaps. “You just have to be awake,” said Christoph Kramer of his team’s collective nod-off at that final set piece. Union had been second best in the first half and took their time to get going after the break as well but, as time went on, there was a growing feeling that Gladbach were struggling to hold back a rising tide. It looked as if they had been breached before in the closing minutes when Christopher Trimmel’s back-post header found the corner, but on VAR inspection it was ruled out for a narrow offside. Yet the hosts had another big moment up their sleeves.
“We had a good 70 or 80 minutes,” bemoaned Daniel Farke, the Gladbach manager, and he wasn’t totally exaggerating – but this is what Union do. They don’t need loads of territory to control a game situation. This is not just a club that is superbly managed off the pitch, but on it as well. Union’s intelligence and sangfroid is maybe even more impressive than the repeated emotional effort.
They had one of those nights on Thursday, inching to a home win against Braga to leave them within a match of reaching the knockout rounds of the Europa League, which would be their first post-Christmas European involvement. Less than 72 hours later here they were, same place, doing it all over again.
There were potential heroes as far as the eye could see – Doekhi, Kevin Behrens, who bravely headed in the equaliser and took a fist in the face from goalkeeper Tobias Sippel for his troubles, the crowd who as ever pushed their side beyond their limits – but this felt like a day for Fischer to get his dues. He called it perfectly, using his five substitutes well (“they all pushed the game forward,” he enthused), a delicious irony when you consider how many worried that expanding the scope for changes would favour the bigger clubs. Fischer dared to take off his excellent forward duo of Sheraldo Becker and Jordan Siebatcheu, who have done much to get Union this far, and was rewarded with one sub, Behrens, scoring and another, Jamie Leweling, assisting the winner.
Danilho Doekhi of Union Berlin celebrates after scoring the winner in the seventh minute of injury time. Photograph: Oliver Hardt/Bundesliga/Bundesliga Collection/Getty Images
None of them were the outstanding forward on the pitch; that was Marcus Thuram, who was a whisker away from scoring an unbelievable goal during Gladbach’s strong first period, backheeling the ball over goalkeeper Frederik Rønnow only to head it narrowly over when he picked it up on the other side. Yet the idea of capturing the Union magic is spreading. Oliver Ruhnert, Union’s director of football, was forced to respond to a rumour of Barcelona trying to sign Rani Khedira in January on Bild’s programme Lage der Liga. “We would be entering a whole new category if we are already able to transfer players to FC Barcelona,” he smiled.
It’s all about sensible management and planning, of course, but there’s still magic. “It’s madness,” gasped the normally poised Fischer at the end. Sometimes, even the protagonists are swept up in the moment.
Another week, same Borussia Dortmund. They were second best for much of the late game on Saturday at Eintracht Frankfurt, were wobbling badly at 1-1 – and could easily have gone down to 10 men and conceded a penalty at that point had Sascha Stegemann, the referee, whistled for Karim Adeyemi’s push on Jesper Lindstrøm as he was about to shoot from close range – but were again saved by their dynamic duo. Jude Bellingham netted a wonderfully crafted winner early in the second half, the rest of which was mainly occupied by Gregor Kobel keeping the home side at bay. “We can rely on him 100%, but we would be happier if he had less to do,” Edin Terzic said about his goalkeeper with some degree of understatement.
We are still getting a handle on just how good (or not) Leipzig are, but we are at least clear on one thing. They always win at home under Marco Rose, and they racked up a seventh straight victory at Red Bull Arena under their newish coach against Leverkusen. Rose’s opposite number, Xabi Alonso, clearly has his hands full after another wan display. Leverkusen were not happy with the free-kick given against Piero Hincapié that led to Christopher Nkunku’s opener (“I still have serious doubts about [it],” said Alonso, “but this isn’t the time to cry about it”) but they didn’t create enough to threaten the hosts. “It is what it is,” admitted the Leverkusen midfielder Robert Andrich. “We are in a relegation battle.”
Our latest Anglo-German star is upon us – the younger Nmecha brother, Felix, made his first big impression on the Bundesliga stage with a double in Wolfsburg’s 4-0 win over Bochum, a game in which his elder brother Lukas (already a Germany international, of course) also started. The pair were born in Hamburg and brought up in Wythenshawe, playing in Manchester City’s academy, before leaving for Lower Saxony. “He has improved physically,” enthused Niko Kovac, who credits settling Felix into a midfield position – after trying him in a number of different spots – for his good form.
Omar Marmoush (left) and Felix Nmecha (right) of Wolfsburg celebrate after the 4-0 win over Bochum. Photograph: Stuart Franklin/Getty Images
Stuttgart go from strength to strength under Michael Wimmer, given the caretaker-coach role after Pellegrino Matarazzo’s dismissal until the winter break at least. He got his third win in four games thanks to a late, late victory over Augsburg – provoking memories of last season’s final day great escape with Waldemar Anton’s winner (at the end of a sensational move the right-back started and finished) in front of the Cannstatter Kurve.
Werder Bremen ended a run of two straight defeats thanks to a more familiar goalscorer, with Niclas Füllkrug’s beast of a header five minutes from the end finishing off Hertha in a dour game and keeping him joint top of the Bundesliga goalscoring charts.
Hats off, too, to Köln, who were forced to play with little rest after Thursday’s Europa Conference League game at Slovacko was fogged off and the rest of it had to be played on Friday. After their attempts to postpone were rebuffed they held Hoffenheim to a 1-1 draw, which left Steffen Baumgart more than satisfied – his team ran over 122km in the match. “They fought against all odds,” Baumgart said.
Union Berlin scored a stoppage-time winner through Danilho Doekhi to snatch a dramatic 2-1 comeback win over visiting Borussia Mönchengladbach to go back to the top of the Bundesliga, one point ahead of Bayern Munich.
Kevin Behrens’s powerful header levelled the score in the 79th minute for Union, avoiding a second consecutive loss for the club, who have surprisingly led the title race for more than a month, before Doekhi’s last-gasp winner.
Gladbach’s Nico Elvedi headed in for the lead in the 33rd minute from a Lars Stindl corner, with the visitors controlling possession in the first half. The hosts pushed forward after the break and earned the equaliser when Behrens beat keeper Tobias Sippel 11 minutes from the end.
Union then put the ball in the net again but Christopher Trimmel’s 87th-minute header was overruled by the VAR before Doekhi got the winner in the eighth minute of injury time with the last move of the game.
In La Liga, Real Madrid were held to a 1-1 draw by Girona at the Bernabéu but the reigning champions maintained their unbeaten streakand hold a one-point lead over Barcelona.
After a goalless first half, Madrid opened the scoring through Vinícius Jr in the 70th minute but their lead was cancelled out by a Cristhian Stuani penalty 10 minutes later.
Real Madrid’s Toni Kroos is shown a red card by the referee in the 1-1 draw with Girona. Photograph: Jose Breton/AP
Madrid’s afternoon only got worse when midfielder Toni Kroos was sent off in added time after receiving a second yellow card. Girona, who are 16th in the standings, came away with a precious point as their players sank to the ground in relief. Elsewhere in La Liga, sixth-placed Osasuna continued their fine start to the season with a 2-0 home win over Valladolid.
Atalanta regained second place in Serie A with goals from defender Hans Hateboer and Ademola Lookman giving them a 2-0 away win over Empoli on Sunday. The visitors took the lead after 32 minutes when Hateboer reacted instinctively and knocked a loose ball into the net from inside the box.
Empoli had a chance to equalise shortly after, but Tyronne Ebuehi’s shot after 34 minutes was blocked by Rafael Toloi with a well-timed slide. Atalanta were awarded a penalty shortly before the end of the first half when Mattia Destro handled the ball, but keeper Guglielmo Vicario saved Teun Koopmeiners’s kick with his legs.
Atalanta’s Duvan Zapata celebrates with fans after the 2-0 win at Empoli. Photograph: Jennifer Lorenzini/Reuters
Lookman nevertheless doubled the lead in the 59th minute with a well-placed shot inside the box that went past both defenders and keeper and into the lower left corner. Elsewhere in Serie A, Fiorentina won 2-1 away at Spezia and Cremonese played out a goalless draw with Udinese.
Breel Embolo and Aleksandr Golovin scored in the second half as Monaco beat bottom side Angers 2-0 at home in Ligue 1 to move up one spot to sixth in the standings. Elsewhere in France, Auxerre beat Ajaccio 1-0, Nantes and Clermont Foot drew 1-1, Rennes moved up to third with a 3-0 home win over Montpellier while fourth-placed Lorient were beaten 2-1 at home by Nice. Brest and Reims played out a goalless draw.
Napoli’s seemingly unstoppable winning streak continued when Victor Osimhen’s late strike secured a 1-0 win at Roma in Serie A, giving them 11 straight victories in all competitions.
In front of a raucous crowd at the Stadio Olimpico, both sides were evenly matched in a largely uneventful first half. Napoli thought they had a penalty in the 38th minute when Roma goalkeeper Rui Patrício challenged Tanguy Ndombele but the decision was rescinded after a VAR check.
Napoli were in control by the hour mark and had several chances, with Roma struggling to get the ball out of their own half. Osimhen secured the win for Napoli 10 minutes from time when he half-volleyed in a brilliant rasping shot from an acute angle, after getting the better of his marker Chris Smalling.
Napoli have a three-point lead at the top with 29 after 11 games, three ahead of Milan in second. Roma are fifth with 22 points.
Mattia Zaccagni and Felipe Anderson scored to give Lazio a comfortable 2-0 win at Atalanta, moving up to third as a result. Zaccagni converted in the 10th minute, poking in a Pedro cross.
Anderson made it 2-0 seven minutes after half-time, firing a low shot into the bottom-left corner. The visitors continued to control the game and Atalanta had Luis Muriel sent off in the 90th minute for a second booking.
The Atalanta coach Gian Piero Gasperini said: “It’s a fair defeat. It’s true that Lazio had an extraordinary first half and we were unable to limit their passing, while the early goal put them in the best possible situation. Only after the second goal did we see something positive.
“It’s a loss we deserved and we will learn from this experience. We hoped that Lazio would drop their tempo and we got close after the second goal but it was too late,” Gasperini added. “We had not yet met a team that was so good on a technical level and with a high press; they always got to the ball first, and perhaps we had not yet faced a team of this level.”
In Spain, Ousmane Dembélé scored and provided assists for Sergi Roberto, Robert Lewandowski and Ferran Torres as Barcelona defeated Athletic Bilbao 4-0 in La Liga.
Barça remain second in the table on 28 points, three behind leaders Real Madrid and five clear of third-placed Atlético Madrid. The hosts scored three times in 10 minutes in the first half, starting with Dembélé’s towering header from close range in the 12th minute.
The France forward then put Roberto through with some brilliant one touch build-up play in the 18th minute, with the Spanish full back’s strike bouncing in off a defender past a helpless Unai Simón.
Ousmane Dembélé (centre) scored one goal and set up three in Barcelona’s 4-0 win against Athletic Bilbao. Photograph: Quique García/EPA
Four minutes later, Dembélé ran down the right channel before crossing to Lewandowski who swivelled and finished with a powerful shot. Barça took their foot off the gas after the break but there was still time for Dembélé to deliver another assist less than 20 minutes before the end, playing the ball in from the left touchline for Torres to score.
Two second-half goals from Antoine Griezmann, one scored directly from a corner kick, gave Atlético Madrid a 2-1 win at Real Betis, extending their unbeaten run to five games. Griezmann opened the scoring in the 54th minute directly from a corner.
Fifteen minutes later, substitute Matheus Cunha passed to Griezmann whose right-footed shot found the bottom right corner. Betis replied with a Nabil Fekir free-kick in the 84th minute but the visitors held firm.
In Germany, relegation-threatened VfL Bochum scored once in either half to stun Union Berlin 2-1, leaving the Bundesliga leaders with only a one-point gap at the top and moving off the bottom of the table.
Union, with the league’s best backline before the game, suffered only their second loss of the season. Philipp Hofmann’s glancing header two minutes before the break put Bochum with the hosts’ high press proving a major problem for Urs Fischer’s team.
Union’s Milos Pantovic whipped a shot just wide on the hour mark but it was Bochum, who had also hit the woodwork early in the second half, who scored again. This time they struck on the break with Gerrit Holtmann completing the lightning-quick passing move, tapping in from a Christopher Antwi-Adjei assist. Union remain in top spot on 23 points, one ahead of champions Bayern Munich. Freiburg are third on 21.
Schalke 04, who sacked coach Frank Kramer on Wednesday, dropped to bottom place following their 2-1 defeat at Hertha Berlin courtesy of Wilfried Kanga’s 88th-minute winner.
Napoli snatched back the Serie A lead with a 4-1 win at Cremonese on Sunday, helped by two goals in added time.
Atalanta had briefly taken the league lead after a 2-2 draw at Udinese earlier on Sunday but Napoli put themselves back on top with a two-point cushion after their resounding win in Cremona.
Napoli opened the scoring with a penalty in the 26th minute after Khvicha Kvaratskhelia was clumsily tackled inside the box by Matteo Bianchetti. The striker Matteo Politano had no problem with his shot into the lower left side of the goal.
Cremonese equalised two minutes into the second half when Cyriel Dessers got to a through ball into the box and hammered it in the net.
Giovanni Simeone put Napoli ahead again when he jumped to reach a cross from Mario Rui and headed into the net in the 76th minute. Three minutes into stoppage time, Kvaratskhelia passed to an unmarked Hirving Lozano who scored from close range. Mathías Olivera finished off the match with a headed goal in the 95th minute.
Napoli, after seven wins and two draws in their nine matches, now have 23 points, two ahead of Atalanta.
Earlier in Udine, a late goal by the defender Nehuen Perez helped Udinese to come back from two goals down to earn a 2-2 home draw against Atalanta as the hosts continued their best start to a top-flight campaign in their history.
The Atalanta forward Luis Muriel sent an early warning to the hosts when he struck a shot in the 16th minute which was denied by Udinese goalkeeper Marco Silvestri. The striker Ademola Lookman put the visitors ahead 20 minutes later after he was brilliantly set up by Muriel who sent a precise low pass into the six-yard box which the 24-year-old smashed into the roof of the net.
Barcelona’s Spanish midfielder Pedri celebrates scoring against Celta Vigo Photograph: Anadolu Agency/Getty Images
Atalanta doubled their advantage 11 minutes into the second half when they were awarded a penalty for Destiny Udogie’s risky tackle on Muriel. The Colombian calmly pushed the ball in with the tip of his boot for his 50th league goal with Atalanta, and his 12th against Udinese.
Udinese tried to bounce back and the midfielder Tolgay Arslan had a good chance when he received a delightful pass from Udogie but the substitute’s strike went just past the near post.
The hosts eventually halved the lead when Gerard Deulofeu made it 2-1 with a superb free-kick in the 67th minute, after his teammate Isaac Success was fouled by the Atalanta defender Caleb Okoli. Udinese added another goal 11 minutes later through a brilliant header by Perez to draw level.
“We did a lot more than them, Silvestri didn’t make a save,” the Udinese coach Andrea Sottil told DAZN. “I’m very happy with the boys, they played a great match. We deserved the draw, too bad for the last chance.”
Udinese, who finished 12th last season, are unbeaten in their past eight games. Atalanta remain unbeaten this season, winning six and drawing three.
“We have to be happy with this result,” the Atalanta manager, Gian Piero Gasperini, said after his 300th competitive match in charge of the team in all competitions. “There was personality and great technique, we deservedly took the lead. It’s a match that made us grow.”
In the Bundesliga, Union Berlin’s Paul Jaeckel scored a 76th-minute winner to give his team a 1-0 victory at VfB Stuttgart and send them two points clear at the top.
Union Berlin’s Paul Jaeckel enjoys the day after his goal gave them a 1-0 win against VfB Stuttgart Photograph: Andreas Gebert/Reuters
Jaeckel was left with too much space in the box, allowing him to head in off the post and lift surprise leaders Union to 20 points, two ahead of second-placed Freiburg. Stuttgart finished the game with 10 men after Serhou Guirassy was dismissed in the 82nd minute.
For much of the game the hosts, however, had not looked like the only team in the league without a win this season. They had the better chances in the first half, with Guirassy’s glancing header in the 34th minute being their best.
Union remained composed at the back and patient, grabbing their chance through Jaeckel although Stuttgart did hit the post through Kostantinos Mavropanos three minutes later.
Freiburg needed a 78th-minute goal from Kevin Schade to rescue a 2-2 draw at Hertha Berlin earlier on Sunday. The champions, Bayern Munich, are third on 16 following the 2-2 draw on Saturday at fourth-placed Borussia Dortmund.
In La Liga, Barcelona returned to the top with a 1-0 win over Celta Vigo. Pedri scored in the 17th minute and Xavi’s side held on for the next 80 minutes – there were seven minutes of stoppage time – to reclaim top spot from Real Madrid, themselves winners by the only goal of their game on Saturday, against Getafe.
In France, Lille beat Lens by a single goal in the derby du nord on Sunday evening. Jonathan David was the hero for the hosts with his penalty just before half-time. The win moved them up to seventh while Lens remain fourth.
