Leipzig in hot pursuit of Bayern after beating Gladbach
RB Leipzig narrowed the gap on Bundesliga leaders FC Bayern Munich to five points with Emil Forsberg and Timo Werner on target in a 2-1 win at Borussia Mönchengladbach.
Thorgan Hazard sent an early sighter into the side-netting, but it was the guests who posed a greater threat in a fast-paced first-half. A good counter culminated in Marcel Sabitzer's shot being tipped round the post by Yann Sommer before another well-worked move led to Forsberg taking aim from the edge of the penalty area, and his low shot nestled in the corner. Gladbach had the chance to level on the stroke of half-time when Marvin Compper fouled Lars Stindl inside the area, but Hazard's spot-kick was turned past the post by Peter Gulacsi.
It was a costly miss, consequently compounded by Leipzig's second ten minutes into the second half with Werner drilling his shot inside the far post from Forsberg's neat pass. Gladbach tried to find a route back into the game with Lars Stindl lively, but it was Vestergaard who powered home a header to pull Gladbach within a goal of their opponents. There was no time for an equaliser, however, as Leipzig held firm.
GERMANY Bundesliga
Modeste on target as Cologne hold Schalke
The Royal Blues made just two changes to the team that beat PAOK in the UEFA Europa League on Thursday, but they showed no sign of fatigue as Schöpf tucked home Daniel Caligiuri’s left-wing cross to give Markus Weinzierl’s side the lead with just over a minute on the clock. Leon Goretzka struck the foot of the post just after the half-hour mark, before Anthony Modeste restored parity two minutes before half time with a clinical finish past a stranded Ralf Fährmann.
Cologne started the second half with more urgency and Yuya Osako went within a whisker of giving the hosts the lead with a dipping drive that whistled just the wrong side of Fährmann’s left-hand post. Yesterday B. Monchengladbach-RB Leipzig ...... 1-2 FC Koln-Schalke ................................ 1-1
Standings
Bayern Munich 21 15 RB Leipzig 21 14 Dortmund 21 10 Hoffenheim 21 9 E. Frankfurt 21 10 Hertha Berlin 21 10 FC Koln 21 8 B. Leverkusen 21 9 SC Freiburg 21 9 Schalke 21 7 B. M’gladbach 21 7 1. FSV Mainz 21 7 FC Augsburg 21 6 Wolfsburg 21 6 Hamburger 21 5 W. Bremen 21 5 Ingolstadt 21 5 Darmstadt 21 3 5 1 46 13 50 3 4 38 21 45 7 4 43 23 37 10 2 38 21 37 5 6 25 20 35 4 7 28 24 34 9 4 30 19 33 3 9 34 30 30 3 9 28 36 30 5 9 25 22 26 5 9 23 29 26 4 10 29 37 25 6 9 19 27 24 4 11 19 31 22 5 11 21 37 20 4 12 26 42 19 3 13 19 32 18 3 15 14 41 12