Michael Ballack scored his first goal of the season, and Bayer Leverkusen held on for a 1-0 victory away to SC Freiburg.
SC Freiburg Vs. Bayer Leverkusen, 2011 Bundesliga: Michael Ballack’s Early Goal The Difference
Ballack's goal came in just the second minute after Freiburg failed to clear a Michael Kadlec corner. Omar Toprak and Arne Friedrich flicked the ball on and Ballack put his boot to it past Freiburg goalkeeper Oliver Baumann.
The win may relieve some pressure off of Leverkusen manager Robin Dutt, but his predecessor at Freiburg, Marcus Sorg, will only see the pressure on him increase. They loss prolongs their stay on the bottom of the table, and there doesn’t appear to be any relief coming in the near future.
Freiburg battled throughout the first half in an attempt to level the score. The main aggressor was Papiss Cisse. He forced Bernd Leno into several good saves, but he was unable to find the back of the net. Freiburg continued to press the attack in the second, but they took the sting out of their own attack with poor finishing.
The victory moves Leverkusen up to 8th in the table ahead of the weekend’s remaining matches. Their next three matches are against teams lower than them in the table, and they’ll need to capitalize on those matches to move back up in the table to get a place in Europe next year.
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