Leverkusen crushes Bochum to make it 50 unbeaten
Bundesliga champion Bayer Leverkusen crushed hosts Bochum 5-0 to stretch its remarkable unbeaten run across all competitions this season to 50 consecutive matches.
Xabi Alonso's team, aiming for a treble of titles with the DFB Pokal and UEFA Europa League finals ahead, surpassed Benfica's long-standing European unbeaten record with a 2-2 draw against Roma last week, the victory sealing that spot in the UEFA Europa League final.
It did not ease off against lowly Bochum, scoring twice late in the first half against the last Bundesliga team to beat it in the previous season.
Patrik Schick put Leverkusen in the driving seat in the 41st minute and Victor Boniface doubled the lead with a penalty in first-half stoppage-time, with Bochum down to 10 men after a straight red card early on for Felix Passlack.
Amine Adli made it 3-0 in the 76th minute and Josip Stanisic added another 10 minutes later with a low drive before delivering an assist for Alejandro Grimaldo to score in stoppage time with a tap-in.
Leverkusen became the third team in Bundesliga history to remain undefeated in all of its away games in a season, joining Bayern Munich as the only side to achieve the feat (in the 1986-1987 and 2012-2013 seasons).
Alonso's side have also scored 87 goals in the Bundesliga this season, extending on their already broken club record this term.
Leverkusen, which faces Atalanta in the UEFA Europa League showpiece match and Kaiserslautern in the DFB Pokal final, has 87 points with one Bundesliga game left this season.
Bayern Munich, a 2-0 winner against Wolfsburg earlier in the day, is 15 points behind in second place.
