Exciting youngster Kai Havertz broke another Bundesliga record on Friday after scoring the winner in a 1-0 victory at Freiburg which moved Bayer Leverkusen into third place.
Havertz, 20, became
the first player in the history of the league to reach 35 goals before turning
21 years old eight minutes after the break, when he combined with Leon Bailey
before squeezing home under intense pressure from Dominique Heintz.
The dynamic German
was already the youngest player to reach 50 and 100 appearances in the German
top flight and became the youngest ever player to score a league goal for
Leverkusen in 2017.
Havertz’s goal was
his fifth in his four appearance since the Bundesliga returned from its coronavirus-enforced
break and puts Leverkusen a point ahead of fourth-placed RB Leipzig, who travel
to Cologne on Monday night.
They are also three
points ahead of Borussia Moenchengladbach in fifth ahead of their match with
Union Berlin on Sunday.
Havertz’s goal was
the first shot on target in a largely drab encounter in which Freiburg could
have snatched at least a point.
Lucas Hoeler missed
a glaring opportunity for the hosts two minutes before the break, pushing wide
when sent through one-on-one with Leverkusen stopper Lukas Hradecky.
And chasing an
equaliser late on, Nils Petersen forced Hradecky to save the three points for
Leverkusen with a fine first time strike that the goalkeeper did well to tip
away.
