Freiburg pile misery on Leverkusen

Bayer Leverkusen’s miserable run of form continued on Sunday as they fell to a shock 2-1 home defeat to Freiburg thanks to a brilliant second-half performance from Lucas Hoeler.

Having topped the Bundesliga in December, Leverkusen are now five points adrift of the Champions League places in sixth after winning just one of their last six games.

For Peter Bosz’s team, who crashed out of the Europa League on Thursday, a promising season is now beginning to fall apart.

“There are always setbacks in life -- the question is how you turn things around,” a dejected Bosz told Sky.

After a dominant first-half performance from Leverkusen, Freiburg launched a smash-and-grab attack to take the lead just after half-time.

With a darting run into the box, Hoeler cut the ball back to an unmarked Ermedin Demirovic, who swept it past debutant goalkeeper Lennart Grill.

Hoeler doubled the lead 10 minutes later, tapping the ball in after a sharp cross from Vincenzo Grifo.

“We had a bit of luck in the first half, but we said in the break that we wanted to take the game to them,” Hoeler told Sky.

Jamaica winger Leon Bailey pulled a goal back 20 minutes from time, but Freiburg held on to condemn Leverkusen to their eighth defeat in all competitions in 2021.

Union Berlin striker Max Kruse celebrated his long-awaited return from injury with a goal as the capital club were held to a 1-1 draw at home by Hoffenheim.

Kruse gave Union the lead from the penalty spot on nine minutes, smashing the ball into the top corner after Florian Grillitsch brought down Christopher Trimmel.

Hoffenheim equalised through an own-goal shortly before the halfhour mark, Nico Schlotterbeck knocking the ball into his own net as he tried to challenge Togolese striker Ihlas Bebou.