A second-half goal from Alex Grimaldo sent Bayer Leverkusen to a 1-0 home win over Mainz, closing the gap with league leaders Bayern Munich to one point.
Borussia Dortmund’s struggles in the league continued with a 4-2 loss at Holstein Kiel earlier on Tuesday, raising the heat on under-fire coach Nuri Sahin.
In Leverkusen, Xabi Alonso’s defending champions ruled in form but stayed at arm’s length until Grimaldo produced a very good loose kick after 48 minutes.
The Spain defender lifted the shot into the Mainz wall and past the tense palm of Robin Zentner, his 12th purpose in his 50th in the Bundesliga.
“He does that always, also in training – it wasn’t a surprise,” Leverkusen striker Patrik Schick said of Grimaldo’s strike.
Florian Wirtz, who won the loose kick, as well as Nathan Tella and Jérémie Frimpong, had passed the previous chances.
Leverkusen’s back-to-back win in all competitions took them to 38 points and passed the gauntlet to Bayern, who will face Hoffenheim at home on Wednesday.
Massez, who lost coach Bo Henriksen to two consecutive yellow cards during added time, remains fifth despite the defeat.
Eintracht Frankfurt pulled off a quick turnaround to beat Friborg 4-1 at home, with Omar Marmoush noted on the scoresheet.
Marmoush, heavily linked with a winter move to Manchester City, scored Frankfurt’s second, while Robin Koch, Hugo Ekitike and Nnamdi Collins all got on the scoresheet for the third-placed home side.
SAHIN FEELING THE HEAT
Dortmund were heavily favoured against their promoted opponents, who sit second-last in the table, but were overrun as Kiel scored three goals in 22 first-half minutes.
Shuto Machino, Phil Harres and Alexander Bernhardsson discovered the goal to give the Kiel a three -band advantage to rest.
Dortmund’s Gio Reyna and Jamie Gittens scored in the second half but the visitors could not pull off an unlikely comeback, with Jann-Fiete Arp scoring Kiel’s fourth in stoppage time.
Captain Emre Can stated that Dortmund’s misfortunes “have nothing to do with the coach: we, as players, are responsible. “
“With due respect for Kiel, we cannot play like this. It’s a matter of honor,” added the 31 -year -old.
Kiel have now won two of their last three to boost their chances of avoiding a direct relegation.
With half the season played, Dortmund sit ninth, 14 points behind league leaders Bayern.
Questions will continue to be raised about coach Sahin, who replaced Edin Terzic this summer, despite the latter leading Dortmund to the Champions League final in June.
With want-away forward Donyell Malen joining Aston Villa just an hour before kick-off, Sahin handed teenage forward Julien Duranville a starting XI debut.
In situations without blood and fog on the northern coast of Germany, Dortmund ruled the property for much of the first partial hour, but did not separate from the cursed hosts.
In the 27th minute, Kiel forced Julian Brandt to make a mistake near his own area, then Bernhardsson discovered Machino, who exploded in the first game.
Harres, a fourth-division player this time last season, doubled Kiel’s lead with a clever header on the counter shortly afterwards.
Kiel struck a third-place finish before halftime, Bernhardsson taking advantage of a cross from Harres to have Dortmund in shock.
Despite Reyna’s goals and Gittens in the last 20 minutes, Dortmund could not match and Lewis Holtby from Kiel received a red card 4 minutes from the end.
The ARP youngster scored in the 8th minute of added time to seal a remarkable victory for Kiel.
Elsewhere, Wolfsburg beat Borussia Moenchengladbach 5-1 at home and Lukas Nmecha scored two goals in four minutes in the second half.
The wolves, controlled through the former head of Southampton and RB Leipzig Ralph Hasenhuettl, have now won six of their last 8 to 6th place.
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