Monchengladbach, Leverkusen win in German Bundesliga

Berlin, Dec 12 (IANS) Andreas Christensen's winner helped Borussia Monchengladbach beat Mainz 1-0, while Stefan Kiessling's header secured Bayer Leverkusen a late 1-0 win over 10-man Schalke to close the 14th round of Bundesliga action.

Borussia Monchengladbach's eight game winless streak came to an end on Sunday, as they secured a 1-0 victory on home soil against Mainz, reports Xinhua.

After a slow start from both teams, Mainz were able to work out the first chances through Karim Onisiwo, who got stopped twice by defender Christensen just in the nick of time.

Monchengladbach lacked in penetration and were unable to gain a foothold into the game before the break. After the restart, Andre Schubert's men created their first opportunities of the game, but Raffael wasted a promising chance after pulling wide for the edge of the box.

The hosts were, however, able to break the deadlock through set-piece as Mainz failed to clear the ball from the area allowing Denmark international Andreas Christensen to poke home from close range in the 76th minute.

Mainz responded with attacks, but their equalizer from Pablo De Blasis was disallowed due to an alleged foul play in the 88th minute. Things went from bad to worse for the visitors as Jean-Philippe Gbamin was sent off for his second bookable offence in the dying minutes of the game.

With the win, Monchengladbach return to their winning ways and move from 13th to 12th in the standings, whereas Mainz slipped from 10th to 11th place.

Elsewhere, Bayer Leverkusen reaped a late 1-0 victory over resilient 10-man Schalke as Stefan Kiessling was late on target.

The 'Royal Blues' ensured the worst possible start into the game as Naldo was sent off with a straight red card after committing a professional foul to Javier Hernandez in the second minute.

Despite being one man down, Schalke's counter attacks posed a threat for Leverkusen's defence. But Yevhen Konoplyanka remained sloppy on the finish and squandered two golden chances following fast breaks.

Uninspired Leverkusen failed to take advantage of Schalke's red card as the hosts continued to work out chances through Konoplyanka and Sead Kolasinac.

Nevertheless, Schalke's wastefulness got punished late in the game as Stefan Kiessling nodded home a Javier Hernandez free kick into the box to secure the win with two minutes left.

With Sunday's results, Schalke suffered their second straight loss to drop from eighth to 10th position, while Bayer Leverkusen jumped from ninth to eighth place.

--IANS

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