SANCHO SHOWS A KILLER INSTINCT
KAI HAVERTZ scored twice in BAYER LEVERKUSEN’S 3-1 win at BORUSSIA MONCHENGLADBACH as they battled to keep pace with the top two. Havertz opened the scoring in the seventh minute and made it 2-1 from the spot on 58 minutes after Marcus Thuram had put the hosts level on 52 minutes. Sven Bender made sure of the win nine minutes from time.
PADERBORN are putting up a fight at the foot of the table, taking a point off mid-table HOFFENHEIM at home. Dennis Srbeny was on target in the ninth minute after Robert Skov had given the visitors a fourth-minute lead.
Leonardo Bittencourt’s 19th-minute strike gave WERDER BREMEN a 1-0 win at FREIBURG.
TODAY: FC SCHALKE 04 v FC AUGSBURG (12.30pm); MAINZ 05 v RB LEIPZIG (2.30pm); FC KOLN v FORTUNA DUSSELDORF (5pm).
While Premier League players like Manchester City defender Kyle Walker, Aston
Villa midfielder Jack Grealish and Everton striker Moise
Kean have shockingly flouted lockdown rules, Havertz only has eyes on the big prize – being one of football’s major world stars.
After sacrificing his youth to make it big, Havertz isn’t about to squander his talent having strived for success since he was 12, moving 65 miles away from home to live at Leverkusen’s academy.
“The technical skills, the ability to read and play an intelligent game – I think it was simply a gift from God,” says Havertz as he analyses a capability and flair that quickens pulses.
“It’s clear, of course, that back
JADON SANCHO came off the bench to provide a killer assist – and set himself up for a start in Der Klassiker.
The Manchester United target needed just 17 minutes to make an impact as he set up the decisive second goal for Lucien Favre’s highfliers.
The England international (right) has been struggling to shake off a groin injury and was kept in reserve as Dortmund attempted to gain when I was very young people said that I have the potential to succeed, that I have the talent to make it work.
“But that’s still 10-12 years you have to work hard in order to really end up in the Bundesliga or somewhere else.
“That’s when you realise you have to sacrifice certain things. When you can’t meet friends in the afternoon or go out.
“You just came home and want to go to bed and have some peace and ground on leaders Bayern Munich. And they were battling to hold onto a first-half lead when Sancho drove forward during a typical breakaway after being introduced just after the hour mark.
He charged at the heart of the Wolfsburg defence before sliding the ball to Achraf Hakimi who slotted home the 78th-minute goal that finished off the hosts.
That has put him in contention for a start on Tuesday in the German Clasico as Dortmund play host to quiet. That started when I was 12 so there was no time to fully enjoy my youth. I think it all started for me when I was 15 when I changed schools and moved to the academy at Leverkusen.
“When you move away from home so young your parents will, of course, be concerned. But they have always supported me.
“My grandpa was the one who introduced me to football because he had a lot to do with the game. I took their arch- rivals in a clash of the Bundesliga’s top two. It was not a vintage showing from the visitors and it needed a surprising air-shot from in-form Erling Haaland for them to break the deadlock just after the halfhour.
Julian Brandt linked up with Hakimi on the right who slipped a ball to Thorgan Hazard.
The playmaker fired across goal. Haaland missed it, Raphael Guerreiro didn’t.
Dortmund withdrew Mats my first steps with him. But it’s clear too, that my brother and my father played their part in getting me into football boots and onto the pitch at a relatively early age. They’ve always helped me and always been there for me. And that’s why it all worked out so well in the end.”
Breaking
Havertz has been breaking records since becoming Leverkusen’s youngest-ever Bundesliga player at 17.
He followed that by being the youngest Bundesliga player to reach 50 league games and two seasons ago became the first teenager in German
Hummels at the interval with former Liverpool man Emre Can deputising at the heart of the defence and the second half was only two minutes old when Renato Steffen found himself with a clear sight of goal only to see his firm shot crash into the crossbar.
That was as close as Wolfsburg came as Felix Klaus was sent off shortly after Sancho set up the second.
Dortmund have also confirmed that former World Cup winning goalscorer Mario Goetze will be released this summer.