Leverkusen Beat Freiburg 2-1 as Schick Scores in Sixth Straight Match

Bayer Leverkusen came from a goal down to beat Freiburg 2-1 at the BayArena on Sunday, and Patrik Schick wrote his name into the club record book doing it. Schick set up the equaliser in the 19th minute and scored the winner in the 76th, becoming the first Leverkusen player to score in each of the first six matches of a Bundesliga season.

Freiburg arrived as league leaders and scored first. Derry Scherhant put them ahead in the 14th minute, finishing a counterattack from Philipp Treu's flick, with Germany coach Jurgen Klopp watching from the stands. The lead lasted five minutes. Schick played a pass into Ibrahim Maza, who slammed in the equaliser.

Maza returns the favour

Neither side created much after halftime until Maza settled the game. With 14 minutes left he dribbled in from the right, shook off three markers near the corner and cut the ball back for Schick, who guided it home. Freiburg pressed late and Lucas Holer headed inches wide in stoppage time, but Leverkusen held on.

What it means at the top

Leverkusen move to 13 points and into the top four, sitting behind Freiburg on goal difference. Freiburg's defeat is their first of the season in all competitions. They had come into the game with a club record 13 points from their first five matches, and they face Bayern Munich next weekend. Bayern top the table on 14 points after beating RB Leipzig 6-1 on Saturday, with Borussia Dortmund second, also on 14.

How the goals were made

The equaliser was a small piece of team play. Schick laid the ball wide to Moussa Diaby, took the return inside the box, and rolled a pass across to the unmarked Maza, who finished with the outside of his boot. Schick kept causing problems after that: he headed a free kick against the post before half time, though the offside flag would have ruled it out, and he blazed Leverkusen's best second half chance over the bar around the hour mark before finally scoring the winner.

Freiburg had their moments in between. They appealed without success for a handball against Aleix García in the first half, and coach Julian Schuster, who had made only one change to his side, Keisuke Gotō in for the suspended Yuito Suzuki, sent on substitutes Cyriaque Irié and Lucas Höler to chase the game late. The expected goals told the story of a tight match won by the better finishing: Leverkusen 1.39, Freiburg 0.81.

The record and the partnership

The night belonged to the two men who made both goals. Maza was named man of the match, directly involved in each Leverkusen goal, first as scorer and then as creator. Schick's winner was his sixth league goal of the season, one in each of the first six matches, a run no Leverkusen player had managed at the start of a Bundesliga campaign before. Coach Carles Martínez had made five changes from the midweek Europa League side and restored Schick to the starting eleven, and the decision decided the match.