Leverkusen dents Dortmund to close in on top four
A stunning strike from Robert Andrich earned Bayer Leverkusen a 1-0 win over second-place Borussia Dortmund in the Bundesliga, boosting its push for UEFA Champions League qualification.
Both sides traded chances in an open first half at Signal Iduna Park, with Julian Brandt firing wide twice, while Aleix Garcia failed to test Gregor Kobel from distance.
Andrich then broke the deadlock three minutes before the break with a stunning 25-yard strike. The Leverkusen skipper smartly intercepted Jobe Bellingham's careless pass before rifling a powerful effort into the bottom-right corner, leaving Kobel rooted to the spot.
Dortmund pressed hard after the restart with half-chances for Brandt and Serhou Guirassy, both of which flew off target, before Patrik Schick forced Kobel into a nervous save on the hour mark.
The Black-Yellow were unable to carve out a significant chance until the 83rd minute, when Guirassy's blazing left-foot strike clipped the bar, with Almugera Kabar heading wide just seconds later.
Kobel was called into action to deny the Werkself a second on the stroke of full-time, diving at full stretch to parry Schick's high header, as Leverkusen was able to hold on and secure all three points and is now unbeaten in its past seven Bundesliga matches.
All seemed not happy amongst the Dortmund fans, and boos received by Nico Schlotterbeck during the match were described as "outrageous" by his livid centre-back partner Waldemar Anton.
A miserable day for coach Niko Kovac's team was capped by Schlotterbeck being booed, even after he signed a new contract on Saturday (AEST).
"No one deserves to be booed. Especially not here in our own stadium, that’s just unacceptable," Anton said.
"It hurts us as a team, everyone in the stands needs to know that. I personally, and we as a team, can't accept it; it's outrageous."
Kovac echoed those sentiments, but was also careful to avoid picking a fight with his club's fans as.
"It should not be possible," Kovac said.
"We are a team; we want to be successful. Of course, everyone should keep their disappointment to themselves. We want to stick together."
One player who will be leaving Dortmund as a free agent at the end of the season is playmaker Julian Brandt, who has been linked with several of Europe's biggest clubs.
Arsenal and Barcelona reportedly want Brandt, though the subject of staying in Germany – most likely with Bayern Munich – was put to him after full-time.
"There are many ideas," Brandt said. "In principle, I'm not ruling anything out. But there are things I prefer, and there are things I currently find harder to imagine.
"As I said, there are one or two ideas, but everything will happen in due course. You don't have to rush things. We are slowly approaching the end of the season, but we still have important games ahead.
"It would also not be fair to the club to suddenly start holding talks everywhere. You have to finish things properly, and then you have enough time to think about how things will continue. I am not worried about that at all."
