Berlin: Schalke overpowered ten-man Bayer Leverkusen 2-0 to climb on third, while bottom side Cologne came from behind to shock Leipzig 2-1 at the 24th round of Bundesliga football action.
Goals from Guido Burgstaller and Nabil Bentaleb on Sunday helped the Royal Blues to cruise past Bayer Leverkusen 2-0, giving a setback to the UEFA Champions League aspirations of the latter, reports Xinhua news agency.
Domenico Tedesco’s men ensured a bright start on the road, as Guido Burgstaller needed only eleven minutes to break the deadlock after slotting home with a low shot into the bottom left corner.
Schalke retracted with the narrow lead behind and allowed Bayer Leverkusen to gain a foothold into the game.
However, Leverkusen did threaten Schalke’s defence only once as Leon Bailey missed wide following a corner with 20 minutes played.
The visitors focused on fast breaks and almost doubled the lead but Leverkusen goalkeeper Bernd Leno denied Leon Goretzka’s header on target at the half-hour mark.
Things went from bad to worse for the hosts as Dominik Kohr received his marching orders after booking his second yellow card for repeated foul play in the 38th minute.
After the restart, Schalke had the chance to benefit on their numerical advantage but Naldo’s header missed the target.
Leverkusen kept it bowling as substitute Lucas Alario tested Schalke custodian Ralf Faehrmann from a central position.
Nevertheless, the visitors put the result beyond doubt in the dying minutes of the game as Nabil Bentaleb converted a foul play penalty to make it 2-0 on the scoreboards.
With the result, Schalke jump to 3rd place while Bayer Leverkusen slipped to 5th position on standings.
Elsewhere, Leipzig gave away a narrow lead as bottom side Cologne bounced back to snatch a surprising and vital 2-1 away victory.
The hosts grabbed a perfect start on home soil as Jean-Kevin Augustin capitalised on a rebound to mark the opener in the fifth minute.
Cologne did not drop their heads and turned up after the half time as goals from new arrival Vincent Koziello and Leonardo Bittencourt turned the tide in favour of the bottom side.
After suffering the second straight loss in the league, Leipzig dropped to sixth place while Cologne stay in the bottom with seven points to safety.(IANS)
