Havertz fires Leverkusen third with Freiburg winner
German becomes first player in the history of the league to reach 35 goals before turning 21
E CITING youngster Kai Havertz broke another Bundesliga record on Friday after scoring the winner in a 1-0 victory at Freiburg which moved Bayer Leverkusen into third place.
Havertz, 20, became the first player in the history of the league to reach 35 goals before turning 21 years old eight minutes after the break, when he combined with Leon Bailey before squeezing home under intense pressure from Dominique Heintz.
The dynamic German was already the youngest player to reach 50 and 100 appearances in the German top flight and became the youngest ever player to score a league goal for Leverkusen in 201 .
Havertz’s goal was his fifth in his four appearance since the Bundesliga returned from its coronavirus-enforced break and puts Leverkusen a point ahead of fourth-placed RB Leipzig, who travel to Cologne on Monday night.
They are also three points ahead of Borussia Moenchengladbach in fifth ahead of their match with Union Berlin on Sunday.
Havertz’s goal was the first shot on target in a largely drab encounter in which Freiburg could have snatched at least a point.
Lucas Hoeler missed a glaring opportunity for the hosts two minutes before the break, pushing wide when sent through one-onone with Leverkusen stopper Lukas Hradecky.
And chasing an equaliser late on, Nils Petersen forced Hradecky to save the three points for Leverkusen with a fine first time strike that the goalkeeper did well to tip away.
The Germany international is expected to be nearing the end of his career with Leverkusen, as Europe’s top teams have been linked in recent months.
Bayern Munich, Liverpool, Barcelona and Juventus are all said to be chasing Havertz, but the attacking midfielder is staying quiet about his future out of respect to his current side.
Leverkusen, meanwhile, have made clear they will not be selling for anything less than 100 million ( 90m 111m).
Havertz has been with Leverkusen since the age of 11 and is contracted to the club until 2022.
Leverkusen moved up to third in the table with the win on Friday, overtaking RB Leipzig, who face Koln on Monday.