Tucu Palacios scored a great goal on the hour mark to keep Bayer Leverkusen top

He Tucu Exequiel Palacios He dressed up as a hero and in the 94th minute he gave the team the victory Bayer Leverkusen 1-0 in a match against Augsburg which proved to be much more complicated than expected for the men led by Xabi Alonso, who managed to maintain their lead at the top of the Bundesliga. The victory allows Leverkusen to maintain four points on Bayern Munich, although the Bavarians have a game in hand and could get closer to just one if they win the pending match against Union Berlin.

Leverkusen went into the match burdened by the Africa Cup of Nations absences of defenders Kossonou and Tapsoba and striker Victor Boniface, three regular starters in Xabi Alonso’s team who also chose to leave Florian Wirtz and Jonathan Tah on the bench.

The team of aspirins He struggled to find his style against a team that stood up to him from the start with aggressive marking and some sporadic presence in the area.

In the first half there were two clear chances for Leverkusen; hand in hand that Czech Patrick Schick lost with goalkeeper Finn Dahmen and a shot against the crossbar from outside the area by Alejandro Grimaldo.

In the second half, Leverkusen’s dominance became clearer and with more plays in the area, although Augsburg also had opportunities on the counterattack, including a goal disallowed by Tietz for offside.

After the quarter of an hour, Xabi Alonso sends Wirtz onto the field with whom Leverkusen gains clarity, even if Augsburg continues to resist practically until the end.

The goal came almost in the last action of the match, when Palacios received a cross from Grimaldo inside the area and scored with a left-footed shot to which Dahmen was unable to react.