RB LEIPZIG LEAPS INTO THIRD PLACE

RB Leipzig reclaimed third place in the Bundesliga with an entertaining 4-2 victory at Cologne on Monday that put them firmly on course for a Champions League spot with five games left in the season.

Cologne stunned the visitors in the seventh minute when Jhon Cordoba fired in on the rebound but Leipzig turned things around before halftime.

Patrik Schick grabbed his ninth goal of the campaign with a 20th minute header and Christopher Nkunku then was then sent through to calmly chip the ball over keeper

Timo Horn in the 38th.

In a furious start to the second half the visitors added another goal when ’keeper Peter Gulacsi spectacularly served up a perfect assist with a direct delivery for striker Timo Werner to finish it off.

Leipzig is now third on 58 points, two behind second-placed Borussia Dortmund and nine off Bayern Munich.

DANISH FANS ENJOY ‘DRIVE-IN’

With fans barred from entering stadiums due to the impact of coronavirus, Danish league leaders FC Midtjylland took an imaginative approach to their return to action with a ‘drive-in’ broadcast for supporters.

The club installed giant screens in the parking lot of their MCH Arena to allow fans to watch matches from the their cars from the more than 2,000 available spaces.

Fans turned out with the vehicles emblazoned in the club’s red and black colours with balloons and flags on show.

While fans, who listened to commentaries on car radios, will have been glad for the chance to see their team back in action, their team suffered a surprise 1-0 defeat to 10th-placed AC Horsens.

ITALY HAS HOPES FOR FANS

The head of Italy’s football federation (FIGC) hopes that some fans can be allowed back into stadiums to watch Serie A matches before the end of the current season.

Although the government last week gave permission for Serie A to restart on June 20 following a three-month stoppage due to the coronavirus pandemic, all matches will have to be without fans until further notice.

“It’s a wish, I sincerely hope so,” FIGC president Gabriele Gravina told Radio24 in an interview when asked the return of fans to stadiums.

“It’s hard to imagine that, with all the precautions that are being taken, you cannot have a certain percentage of people in a stadium with 60,000 or 80,000 seats.”

BOOKING WASN’T FOR PROTEST

Borussia Dortmund winger Jadon Sancho was not booked for his protest against the death of George Floyd by a policeman but because he removed his shirt during the game, the German Football Association (DFB) clarified on Monday.

Sancho removed his shirt during a goal celebration to reveal an undershirt with a message “Justice for George Floyd” — an American black man who died in Minneapolis after a white policeman knelt on his neck.