Exequiel Palacios, the world champion turned executioner of Bayern Munich

With two penalties scored by the Argentine world champion Exequiel Palacios, Bayern Monaco (2nd) fell 2-1 on the field of Bayer Leverkusen (8th), this Sunday for the 25th day of the Bundesliga, so the new leader is Borussia Dortmund, who beat Cologne 6-1 on Saturday (13th).

With 52 points, Bayern have one less than Borussia Dortmund (53). Both teams will meet on April 1 at the Allianz Arena in Munich in a Classiker decisive for the title.

Bayern Munich dominated the Bundesliga for a decade. The last time another team won the competition was in 2012, when Dortmund, then led by Jurgen Klopp, won.

Conceding two penalties for fouls by the Frenchman Benjamin Pavard AND Dayot Upamecano In the second half, transformed by Palacios, Bayern suffered their third defeat of the season after losing in Augsburg in mid-September (1-0) and in Mönchengladbach (3-2) in February.

In the first half, the German champion had taken the lead thanks to his midfielder Joshua Kimmich (22): in an action by Portuguese Joao Cancelo, Leon Goretzka lowered the ball and his teammate from the German formation appeared from the second line to Mark.

The penalties awarded to Leverkusen in the second half were caused by Frenchman Amine Adli. In both actions, the referee had shown the player the yellow card for simulation and then corrected his decision and changed the card for the maximum penalty after consulting the VAR.

After local goals, Bayern turned to the quest for an equaliser, but the Leverkusen defense and Finnish goalkeeper Lukas Hradecky salvaged all three points.

“If we look at the whole game, unfortunately the defeat is deserved. Except for the last ten minutes, we were the worst team. We didn’t play a good game, with no power in our game. We deserved to lose,” acknowledged Monaco . Captain Thomas Muller.

The match marked the reunion of Leverkusen coach Xabi Alonso with Bayern Munich, the club where he played his last three seasons as a professional, between 2014 and 2017.

Before the big surprise in the Bundesliga, Unión Berlin (3rd) won 2-0 in their stadium against Eintracht Frankfurt (6th), a result that allowed them to climb to third place.

Thanks to goals from Rani Khedira (53) and Kevin Behrens (75), Union Berlin signed their 14th victory of the season.

With 48 points, the players led by Urs Fischer are two points clear of Freiburg (4th), who dropped two points at the last gasp this Sunday to let themselves draw 1-1 in Mainz (9th) with a goal in the 90+ 6 by the Austrian Karim Onisiwo.

Three behind Union Berlin are Leipzig (5th), who lost 1-0 in Bochum (14th) on Saturday.

Eintracht Frankfurt has 40 units and is eight from the podium, therefore sees the possibility of repeating participation in the Champions League fading.

Oliver Glasner’s players failed to turn on the many chances they had in the first half, especially with French international Randal Kolo Muani (16, 39 and 45+1), who fired from all three outings, or by Daichi Kamada eliminated by Frederik Rönnow.

As usual, the Union showed efficiency and didn’t lose the options they had against an Eintracht defense that left some cracks.

Source: AFP