Leverkusen sinks St Pauli for a third straight win
Defending Bundesliga champion Bayer Leverkusen struck twice in the first half to defeat St. Pauli 2-1.
Heading into the game on the back of a midweek DFB-Pokal win against Bayern Munich, Leverkusen only took six minutes to lead as Florian Wirtz fired in from a superb Granit Xhaka pass.
Leverkusen, without Victor Boniface and Patrik Schick, then doubled its lead in the 21st minute when defender Jonathan Tah was left unmarked at the far post to head in.
St Pauli needed 30 minutes to get its first effort at goal and struggled to find openings against a solid Leverkusen defence.
But the visitors did set up a nervous ending to the game when they pulled a goal back in the 84th minute through Morgan Guilavogui.
Leverkusen now has 26 points from 13 matches as it sits in third place, seven points behind leader Bayern, while St Pauli is just above the danger zone with 11 points.
It is the first time this season that defending champion has won three games in a row in the Bundesliga.
Levekusen coach Xabi Alonso lauded his side's fight.
"Yes, we didn't discuss for today, but after Kiel, for example, what we can do better," Alonso said.
"How to play with more intelligence in those minutes. Today wasn't spectacular, but we were more efficient and playing with more intelligence from minute one.
"When you play every three days, it's not easy to defend everything all the time. I have to praise my team for finishing today's game with a win.
"But that is what we need to realise about the situation that we are in. To fight for results and to fight for points. Yes, the first half was good, and the second half was OK."
