Leipzig down Gladbach to trim Bayern's Bundesliga lead

Berlin (AFP) – RB Leipzig cut Bayern Munich’s lead at the top of the Bundesliga to five points on Sunday as Emil Forsberg and Timo Werner netted in a 2-1 win at Borussia Moenchengladbach.

Leipzig brushed off consecutive defeats with an impressive display at Borussia Park to trim the lead of Bayern, who had needed a 96th-minute Robert Lewandowski goal to draw 1-1 at Hertha Berlin on Saturday.

Werner, who is in contention for a call-up to the Germany squad for games against England and Azerbaijan next month, and Forsberg were involved in both goals as RB returned to winning ways after defeats to Hamburg and Borussia Dortmund. 

“We showed that we were prepared to pull the game’s momentum our way,” said Leipzig coach Ralph Hasenhuettl.

“The goals were played out beautifully and we were the better of two good teams. We put a lot in to get the win.”

Second-placed RB took the lead when Forsberg, who signed a new deal until 2022 earlier this month, slammed home Werner’s pass on 31 minutes for the Swedish playmaker’s sixth league goal this season.

Leipzig’s Hungary goalkeeper Peter Gulacsi then saved Thorgan Hazard’s penalty on the stroke of half-time, and Werner, who is just 20, doubled RB’s tally early in the second half.

He scored his 12th league goal of the season when he swept Forsberg’s pass past Gladbach goalkeeper Yann Sommer on 55 minutes.

However, Leipzig endured a nervous end to the game as Gladbach pulled a goal back nine minutes from time, towering Danish centre-back Jannik Vestergaard beating Gulacsi with a header from a corner.

The result leaves Leipzig eight points clear of third-placed Dortmund, who beat Wolfsburg 3-0 at home on Saturday. Gladbach are 11th in the table.

Later, French striker Anthony Modeste joined Dortmund’s Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang on 17 goals as the league’s joint top scorer as he equalised in Cologne’s 1-1 draw at home to Schalke.

An Alessandro Schoepf goal after only two minutes put the visitors in front, but Modeste levelled just before the break after a pass from Japan forward Yuya Osako. Cologne are seventh.