Berlin, Oct 19 (IANS) Bayer Leverkusen grab the lead in the Bundesliga for now, owing to their dramatic 2-1 victory over Hoffenheim at the opener of the 9th round Friday.
Sidney Sam and Stefan Kiebling ensured Leverkusen’s seventh win meanwhile Hoffenheim wasted a penalty to suffer the third loss of the season. The encounter caused a scandal as referee Felix Brych denied the hosts a legitimate goal and awarded Leverkusen a phantom goal, Xinhua reported.
Both sides staged an evenly balanced match until the visitors broke the deadlock out of the blue when Sidney Sam exploited a build up play by Gonzalo Castro, to slot home into near post bottom corner from outside of the box at the 26th minute. It was the seventh goal of the season for Sam, who leads the goal scorer standings.
The hosts remained unimpressed and threatened Leverkusen’s defence through Andres Beck’s shot on target, which was deflected by his own teammate. However, Hoffenheim’s Kevin Volland regular goal was then ruled offside minutes later.
Hoffenheim tried to cut a better figure at the second half but all their attacks remained unrewarded. Thus, Leverkusen were able to doubled the lead against the run of the game under extraordinary circumstances.
Following fixtures are scheduled for Saturday: runner up Dortmund host Hannover, Bayern encounter Mainz, Bremen see Freiburg, newly promoted Braunschweig face Schalke, Frankfurt encounter Nuremberg and Berlin meet Stuttgart.
