Malik Tillman made his return to Bayer Leverkusen’s starting lineup as they held on for a win over Cologne, while Santiago Castaneda and Paderborn were forced to take a share of the points with Eintracht Frankfurt.
Cologne 1-2 Bayer Leverkusen
Bayer Leverkusen climbed to fifth place in the standings as they claimed the win over Cologne in the Rhine derby encounter.
Malik Tillman made his return to the starting lineup to play 76 minutes as he completed 82 percent passing, won four duels, and made two shots.
After an energetic start, the visitors scored the game’s first goal after seven minutes through Alexi Garcia with a curling free-kick that left the goalkeeper rooted to his spot. That would be good enough for the team as they headed into halftime.
The second half turned feisty as the referee had to issue yellow cards.
However, Leverkusen doubled their lead in the 85th minute when Patrick Schick ran onto a through ball to strike it off the post.
Cologne reduced the deficit in the second minute of stoppage time, but it was too late to grab a point.
There will be a home game for Leverkusen after the international break as they take on Paderborn.
Paderborn 2-2 Eintracht Frankfurt
A last-minute goal ensured Eintracht Frankfurt got a share of the points in their game against Paderborn at the Home Deluxe Arena.
Santiago Castaneda went the distance for the Blue-Blacks as he made two key passes, won eight duels, and made eight defensive contributions. Tim Chandler, as usual, was an unused substitute for Frankfurt.
Frankfurt broke the scoreless deadlock in the 23rd minute, but the hosts levelled the score just before halftime when Raphael Obermair was on the path to get the ball from Ruben Muller and slot it home.
Paderborn looked the stronger side in the second half, as Frankfurt was forced to commit a penalty. Marvin Pieringer converted the spot kick in the 73rd minute.
Just when it appeared that the hosts were on the verge of taking all three points, Frankfurt stunned them with a goal in the 93rd minute. Jonathan Burkardt was on the spot to backheel the ball into the net from a corner kick.
Paderborn sits in 13th place with 10 points.
Notes
Elsewhere in the Bundesliga, Joe Scally played the full 90 minutes and got an assist as 10-man Borussia Monchengladbach fell 3-1 to Hamburg.
Cole Campbell played 23 minutes, while Mathis Albert saw no action as Borussia Dortmund came out on top in a 2-1 win over Elversberg.
Lennard Maloney was an unused substitute for Mainz in their 2-1 loss to Bayern Munich.
Jykese Fields was on the bench for Hoffenheim as they came away with a 2-1 win over Schalke.
In the 2. Bundesliga, Isaiah Young came off the bench to play 26 minutes and scored a goal in Arminia Bielefeld’s 2-1 win over John Tolkin-less Holstein Kiel.
Jonathan Gomez played 67 minutes, and Leon Flach went the distance for Osnabruck in their 1-0 loss to Kaiserslautern.
Justin Butler played 90 minutes while Ryan Malone was on the bench for Cottbus as they settled for a 0-0 tie with Eintracht Braunschweig.
Down in the 3. Liga, Terrence Boyd scored a goal for Waldhof Mannheim in a 2-1 win over Fortuna Cologne.
