Bundesliga: Freiburg 0 Bayer Leverkusen 1

An early goal from Michael Ballack was enough for Bayer Leverkusen to secure a 1-0 Bundesliga victory over struggling Freiburg on Friday.

Robin Dutt’s men did not have to wait long to take the lead. Omer Toprak got his head to Michal Kadlec’s corner and Manuel Friedrich flicked the ball to Michael Ballack, who tapped the ball past Oliver Baumann to put the visitors ahead after just two minutes.

Sloppy passing in the Freiburg defence almost gifted Leverkusen another goal minutes later, but Marcus Sorg’s side slowly came back into the match.

Papiss Cisse struck the woodwork as the first half wore on, coming to the near post to meet Anton Putsila’s cross, and he would also send a header narrowly wide on the stroke of half time.

Leverkusen, meanwhile, were largely unable to capitalise on their early dominance, with a Sidney Sam shot that went narrowly wide the closest the visitors came to doubling their advantage.

Cisse missed another decent chance minutes into the second period, as he latched onto Garra Dembele’s cross, but his effort once again sailed wide.

The 26-year-old came close once again 20 minutes from time, as he sent a spectacular volley inches over Bernd Leno’s bar, as the steady stream of Freiburg chances continued.

Leno, who looked shaky all night, spilled a fierce shot from Stefan Reisinger, but was able to get back to the ball before any Freiburg striker.

The goalkeeper was forced into making two late saves, first to deny Reisinger, who blasted a shot goalward after a turn in the box, and then stopping a tame header from Oliver Barth from the resulting corner.

In the end, Freiburg’s poor finishing betrayed them and Bayer left with all three points.

This result leaves the hosts rooted to the bottom of the table, while the visitors leapfrog Hoffenheim and move into eighth place.