The series continues! Leverkusen are one step away from breaking a 59-year-old record

The series continues! Leverkusen are one step away from breaking a 59-year-old record

Bayer Leverkusen extended their unbeaten run in all competitions this season to 48 games with a 5-1 win over Eintracht Frankfurt, ending a run of five straight away games.

With the title secured, one foot in the UEFA Europa League final and a DFB-Pokal final on the horizon, things couldn’t be better for Leverkusen at the moment.

But with the prospect of an unbeaten season in the Championship still on the cards, it was expected that there would be no time to relax and Leverkusen showed this in the opening 15 minutes when Granit Xhaka scored with a curler from the edge box to quickly take the lead.

Their lead should have been doubled moments later when an unselfish Jonas Hofmann fed Exequiel Palacios, but a last-minute save from Willian Pacho kept Frankfurt in the game.

This proved to be a crucial intervention as shortly after the half-hour mark Hugo Ekitike restored parity from a corner kick.

The home side’s equalizer looked to change the momentum of the game, with Frankfurt looking more dangerous as half-time approached, and Omar Marmoush squandered a fantastic opportunity despite being one-on-one with Lukas Hradecky, sending an incredible header wide.

His miss proved costly as Patrik Schick headed home an Adam Hlozek cross a minute before the break.

Down by just a goal, Frankfurt were still in the game but self-sabotaged shortly after the restart when Niels Nkounkou pulled Nathan Tella by the shirt in the box. Palacios scored from the penalty spot to leave the hosts in an unenviable position.

This became an insurmountable climb with just under 15 minutes to go when a lightning Leverkusen counter-attack culminated in Hofmann passing for Jeremie Frimpong, who scored Die Werkself’s fourth goal.

Damage limitation was all that was left for Frankfurt, but they failed to do so. Ansgar Knauff fouled Frimpong in the box and after a quick VAR check another penalty was awarded.

Victor Boniface converted to round off the scoring and Frankfurt still need a win in their remaining two games to mathematically secure a top-six finish.

On the other hand, Leverkusen equaled Benfica’s 59-year-old European record for the longest unbeaten run in all competitions and can write another page of history against Roma on Thursday.

Flashscore Man of the match: Adam Hlozek (Bayer Leverkusen)

Check out all the match stats here.