Patrik Schick scores the win and follows in Lewandowski's footsteps

Thanks to a record goal from Bayer Leverkusen's Patrik Schick, SC Freiburg suffered its first defeat of this Bundesliga season and lost its lead in the table. The previous leaders from Breisgau lost 1:2 (1:1) to the Werkself. With his decisive goal (76th minute), Schick became the first Bayer professional to score on the first six matchdays of a Bundesliga season.

"I'm very happy for that. But the victory was important today. We played against a top team today. They are one of the best in terms of intensity," said winning goalscorer Schick.

Derry Scherhant (14th) had previously given Freiburg the lead in front of 30,210 spectators in the sold-out Leverkusen stadium. Ibrahim Maza (19th) quickly equalized for the hosts shortly afterwards. While the sports club was once again unable to successfully defend its lead in the table and had to let Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund overtake them, Leverkusen now remains level on points with Freiburg in fourth place.

"The longer we play together, the better it works," said Maza about the successful interaction with the record man, whom he served after an outstanding individual performance before the 2-1 win: "Schicki is where he needs to be. He smelled it."

As a spectator in the stands, national coach Jürgen Klopp saw the game interrupted after just three minutes. In protest against material bans in the Leverkusen stadium, which include flags, tennis balls flew from the guest block onto the lawn. Visibly annoyed, Freiburg coach Julian Schuster made his way to the visitors' block and expressed his displeasure about the action. The game resumed after around five minutes.

After both teams' international victories on Thursday, it initially seemed as if they were taking a calm approach to the game. But after less than 15 minutes, the guests took advantage of a gap in Leverkusen's defense: Philipp Treu sent Jan-Niklas Beste down the right, got the ball back and put it across. Scherhant scored completely free at the second post to give Freiburg the lead.

But Leverkusen responded promptly to the deficit. After an apparent misunderstanding between Matthias Ginter and Igor Makengo, Moussa Diaby intervened and passed to Schick in the penalty area. The Czech backheeled the ball to Maza, who finished with the outside of his foot to make it 1-1. Both teams showed pure efficiency: each scored a goal with their first shot on goal.

Not only were both teams on equal terms when it came to the score, the game was also evenly balanced in other respects. Thanks to good defensive work, there were only a few chances. Schick headed the post from a free kick (40') before the referee ruled a striker's foul. A bad pass from Beste gave Alfonso Moreira a chance shortly before the break (45th), but the Freiburg player made up for his mistake with a strong defensive effort.

After the break, the hosts had two promising chances: a low shot from Facundo Medina from the second row went past the goal on the right (50th), before striker Schick shot over the crossbar from close range (59th). In both situations, Diaby had done the preparatory work. But as in the first half, high intensity once again collided with attentive defensive lines, which made scoring chances rare.

Then Schick managed to set the record: After an assist from Maza, the Czech scored from close range to make it 2-1 and thus also scored a goal in the sixth game of the season. The striker thus surpassed Dimitar Berbatow (2005/06 season) and Stefan Kießling (2009/10).

Only two players in Bundesliga history have managed longer scoring streaks at the start: Bayern's Robert Lewandowski scored at least one goal on each of the first eleven matchdays in 2019/20, and Dortmund's Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang on each of the first eight in 2015/16.