BERLIN – Patrik Schick scored four goals as Bayer Leverkusen moved into second place in the Bundesliga with a convincing 5-1 victory over Freiburg on Saturday.
Leverkusen dominated from the outset and created its first chance in the seventh minute when Florian Wirtz shot just wide.
On the half-hour mark Ritsu Doan fouled Wirtz in the area and Leverkusen was awarded a penalty. Wirtz stepped up, but was denied by Freiburg goalkeeper Noah Atubolu.
Leverkusen broke the deadlock just before half-time when Wirtz played a perfectly weighted ball to Schick, who sent the ball past Atubolu.
Leverkusen doubled their lead six minutes into the second half. Wirtz showed his individual genius by weaving through the Freiburg defense before firing from point-blank range into the back corner of the net.
Freiburg responded temporarily in the 55th minute when Vincenzo Grifo shot accurately from 16 yards into the corner.
Wirtz hit the pin back in the 67th minute, delivering a precise cross that Schick headed in to repair Leverkusen’s two-goal lead.
Schick completed his hat-trick minutes later when he rebounded from 14 metres, and the Czech striker sealed his fourth goal of the night in the 77th minute to cap a dominant performance.
Freiburg, who may not recover from Schick’s attack for 10 minutes, suffered their fifth defeat of the season and fell to eighth place in the standings. Meanwhile, Leverkusen remains the leader by four points in the dispute over the name of Bayern Munich.
“We kept our composure and continued to play relentlessly, and that is a quality we have. We had to show our desire to win,” said Bayer Leverkusen sporting director Simon Rolfes.
Elsewhere, ten-man Mainz claimed their second consecutive victory with an impressive 3-1 victory over third-placed Eintracht Frankfurt. Werder Bremen extended Union Berlin’s winless streak to nine with a dominant 4-1 home victory. Holstein Kiel beat Augsburg 5-1. Borussia Mönchengladbach beat Hoffenheim 2-1 and St. Pauli surprised Stuttgart 1-0 thanks to Johannes Eggestein’s decisive goal.