It's carnival season in the Rhineland, and Leverkusen fans, many of them in costume, had plenty to celebrate as Xabi Alonso's team barely allowed Bayern a chance to score. It was Leverkusen's 31st game this season without a loss in all competitions, a remarkable campaign for a team which was in the relegation zone when Alonso took charge in Oct. The loss for Bayern leaves the time defending champion facing a possible end to its run of titles.
After a kickoff delayed by fan protests, it was a Bayern player who scored the first goal β but he wasn't playing for Bayern. Leverkusen made it with an incisive counter early in the second half, Grimaldo sprinting down the left flank and playing a one-two with Nathan Tella before lofting a shot over goalkeeper Manuel Neuer. Jeremie Frimpong added a third in stoppage time into the empty net after Neuer had gone up for a Bayern corner.
The game was a comprehensive tactical victory for Alonso over Thomas Tuchel and Bayern, which couldn't break through Leverkusen's defense. Harry Kane has scored 24 goals in 20 Bundesliga games since joining Bayern but had few chances to score as Leverkusen squeezed him out of the game, even though Bayern finished with five specialist forwards on the field at once. Also Saturday, Union Berlin beat Wolfsburg in a game that had repeated interruptions, about 30 minutes in total, as fans threw tennis balls onto the field in protest at the league's planned investment deal.
The referee took the players to the locker rooms in the first half after stoppages to clear away tennis balls thrown by Union fans. When play resumed, there was another interruption when Wolfsburg fans threw more balls. Long-running protests against the German league's plans to sell a stake of revenue to an outside investor have intensified as talks are held with prospective buyers.
Fifth-place Leipzig drew at Augsburg to lose more ground in the race for the Champions League places. Leipzig has four points from five games since the new year. United States midfielder Lennard Maloney scored his first career Bundesliga goal for Heidenheim in a win at Werder Bremen, Eintracht Frankfurt was held to a draw by Bochum and Borussia Moenchengladbach and Darmstadt played out a draw.
