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| Kevin Schade of SC Freiburg scores their team's second goal during the Bundesliga match between Sport-Club Freiburg and Bayer 04 Leverkusen at Europa - Park -Stadion on December 19, 2021 in Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany. |
Substitute Kevin Schade scored with just six minutes left to give Freiburg a 2-1 victory over Bayer Leverkusen that enabled them to leapfrog their visitors and move into third place going into the Bundesliga's winter break.
Freiburg profited from some lax late defending on Sunday as Ermedin Demirovic was able to cross without pressure and Schade nipped ahead of his marker to beat Leverkusen goalkeeper Lukas Hradecky at the near post.
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| Kevin Schade of SC Freiburg celebrates after scoring their side`s second goal during the Bundesliga match between Sport-Club Freiburg and Bayer 04 Leverkusen at Europa-Park-Stadion on December 19, 2021 in Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany. |
Freiburg's Vincenzo Grifo had earlier opened the scoring with a penalty before Charles Aranguiz equalised in first-half injury time for Leverkusen.
Freiburg now have a one-point lead over fourth-placed Leverkusen and Hoffenheim, but they're five points adrift of Borussia Dortmund and a whopping 14 behind Bayern Munich, who look unstoppable on their march to a 10th straight title.
The loss is the latest blow to Leverkusen's fading title ambitions after three Bundesliga games without a win.
In Sunday's other match, Anthony Modeste scored a late goal to give Cologne a 1-0 win over Stuttgart in the last Bundesliga fixture before the winter break.
Kingsley Schindler crossed for the French striker to head the winner in the 88th minute and set off a Christmas party among home fans.
Their patience had been tried by two disallowed goals early on, the first for an unintended hand ball, the second through VAR for a marginal offside call.
Before the game, Cologne had posted a thank you on Twitter to third-division clubs MSV Duisburg and VfL Osnabruck for their "clear reaction" to a racist incident earlier on Sunday in which visiting forward Aaron Opoku had been targetted.
Osnabruck declined to play on and Duisburg fans helped to identify the alleged culprit.
