Wolfsburg dents fading Leipzig hopes
A first-half goal from Mario Gomez was enough for Wolfsburg to see off RB Leipzig and further dent its Bundesliga title hopes.
Mario Gomez struck early on to secure Wolfsburg a 1-0 win over RB Leipzig as Ralph Hasenhuttl's men lost further ground in the race for the Bundesliga title.
Leipzig was trailing leader Bayern Munich by seven points heading into Sunday's (AEDT) encounter at Red Bull Arena and knew it could not afford to slip up again after last week's draw against Augsburg.
It got off to a poor start, though, as Gomez needed only nine minutes to hand Wolfsburg the lead after some good work from Daniel Didavi and Yunus Malli.
The hosts struggled to get going and they were fortunate not to concede a second goal early in the second half as Wolfsburg hit the post twice in the space of a minute.
Didavi struck the upright early in the second half with a left-footed strike from outside the area, while Gomez's effort from a narrow angle moments later also struck the woodwork.
Marcel Sabitzer got a chance to level the scoring with 16 minutes left on the clock, but goalkeeper Koen Casteels proved to be too much of an obstacle as Wolfsburg held on for an important win in the battle against the drop.
Leipzig remains second in the table but is now trailing Bayern by 10 points, while Wolfsburg climbed to 14th place and is now three points clear of the relegation play-off spot.
