LEVERKUSEN, Germany (Reuters) – Champions Bayer Leverkusen battled past Mainz 05 with a 1-0 win coming courtesy of a superb Alex Grimaldo free kick on Tuesday to stretch their winning run to seven straight matches in the Bundesliga and close in on leaders Bayern Munich.
Mainz suffered an early setback when Germany forward Jonathan Burkardt had to be taken off injured in the third minute after making his comeback as recently as last weekend.
Leverkusen gradually gained more and more possession and carved out several chances through Florian Wirtz and Jeremie Frimpong but Mainz held on in a goalless first half.
That, however, did not last long after the restart with Grimaldo curling his free kick over the wall and past the reach of Mainz keeper Robin Zentner in the 48th minute.
Wirtz had other good chances to add another goal as did Frimpong, who saw his shot blocked by Zentner in the 81st.
The Mainz keeper also denied Nathan Tella from point-blank range two minutes later to keep the visitors in the game.
Mainz then tried to put some late pressure on Leverkusen but had coach Bo Henriksen sent off after two bookings in stoppage time.
Last year’s domestic double winners are on 38 points, one behind leaders Bayern Munich, who are in action against Hoffenheim on Wednesday.
Eintracht Frankfurt are a further five points behind in third place following their 4-1 victory over Freiburg.
(Reporting by Karolos Grohmann; Editing by Toby Davis)
Disclaimer: This report is auto generated from the Reuters news service. ThePrint holds no responsibility for its content.