RB Leipzig waking up as the Bundesliga falls asleep

A quick sequence of events in the second half of the game between Borussia Mönchengladbach and Bayer Leverkusen summed up a tired Saturday afternoon of Bundesliga football.

First, Gladbach's Valentino Lazaro attempted to propel himself into the air to execute a bicycle kick, but got his timing all wrong, missed the ball and collapsed in a heap. The ball then fell to his teammate Marcus Thuram, who was scythed down by a late challenge from Leverkusen's Jeremie Frimpong. Penalty.

Or not: Lazaro had strayed offside in the build-up and the decision was reversed. Probably for the best. Given Gladbach's football over the previous 60 minutes, and indeed over the past month, they probably would have missed it anyway.

Winless in six in all competitions, out of the German Cup, effectively out of the Champions League, set to lose head coach Marco Rose, and with midfielder Christoph Kramer twisting his ankle in training to join Jonas Hofmann in the treatment room, the ailing Foals were already sleepwalking down the final straight.

After Patrick Schick scored for Leverkusen with 13 minutes remaining to end the Werkself's own winless run and send them seven points clear of their opponents, Gladbach's season is surely over.

"We've completely tensed up," said 21-year-old Hannes Wolf at full-time. "It's no fun anymore."

Leverkusen end winless run

Leverkusen's season is still alive – just. Saturday's win was only their third in all competitions in 2021, a year which has seen them surrender top spot in the Bundesliga, get knocked out of the German Cup by fourth-division Rot-Weiss Essen and go out of the Europa League against Swiss side Young Boys Bern.

With starlet Florian Wirtz testing positive for coronavirus, Leon Bailey suspended and January signing Timothy Fosu-Mensah joining Lukas Hradecky, Lars Bender, Julian Baumgartlinger and Paulinho on the injured list, Peter Bosz's team have also been feeling the strain in this unprecedented Corona season.

"The most important thing is that the results get better," said the Dutchman pre-match. "Whether through good or bad football is not our focus."

Well, we can't say we weren't warned. From the off at Borussia Park, passing was sloppy, crosses were wild, tackles were late and set pieces failed to beat the first man.

Exhibit A: Florian Neuhaus' free-kick just after the half-hour mark which triggered a Leverkusen counter-attack involving Schick and Demarai Gray but which concluded with a tired Moussa Diaby effort.

Just before half-time, Diaby found himself in a shooting position again but the Frenchman, who had such an electric start to the season, stumbled on the ball. It was turning into a very weary afternoon in the Rhineland sun.

Sörloth and Leipzig waking up

Further south in the usually sleepy Black Forest, however, there were signs of life in the Bundesliga as RB Leipzig pounced on Freiburg errors to go top – at least temporarily, ahead of the evening kick-off between Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund.

Just before half-time, Kevin Kampl pounced on a wayward pass from goalkeeper Florian Müller to set up Christoph Nkunku via Yussuf Poulsen. And in the second half, Kampl was alert again to win the ball following a sleepy dribble from Nicolas Höfler before Alexander Sörloth made it 2-0.

The Norwegian, recruited as a replacement for the departed Timo Werner, endured a slow start to life in Leipzig, but now has two goals in his last two Bundesliga games – and two assists as well after setting up Emil Forsberg for RB's third in Freiburg.

The rest of the league may be falling asleep, but Sörloth, Kampl and RB Leipzig appear to be waking up.