15:30 Kickoffs: Wirtz sparks Leverkusen past Frankfurt while Leipzig, Hoffenheim, Gladbach, and Freiburg all win | OneFootball

Photo: Paul Barrena, Getty Images

The defending Bundesliga champions - aided by a spirited performance by Florian Wirtz off the bench - defeated visiting Eintracht Frankfurt at the BayArena on Saturday afternoon in a highly anticipated fixture between two teams with top four aspirations. League-leading goalscorer Omar Marmoush managed to score again of the Hessian guests, but it was not enough for the SGE to take a point off Xabi Alonso's Werkself.

Xabi made three changes to the XI that delivered the disappointing 2-2 draw against Kiel just prior to the international break. Amine Adli and Martin Terrier replaced Jonas Hofmann and the recently injured Wirtz in attack. Piero Hincapie also took Exequiel Palacios' place in the lineup. Robert Andrich moved out of the back-three and into the midfield to make way for the Ecuadorian central defender.

Dino Toppmöller employed three outfield changes to the side that ended up drawing Bayern 3-3 last round. Mario Götze, Niels Nkounkou, and Eric Junior Dina Ebimbe stared above Ellyes Shiri, Fares Chaibi, and Ansgar Knauff. Additionally - as had been expected - Kevin Trapp returned to reclaim his starting place above Kaua Santos.

The defending champs began the game on the front foot and nearly claimed the opener via a Xhaka distance effort in the 2nd. Three minutes later, Leverkusen match official Dr. Felix Brych awarded Leverkusen a chance to take the lead from the spot. Brych ruled that an innocuous clearance in the box from Ebimbe, which caught Adli on the heel, was worthy of a penalty.

Brych stood by his decision even after the VAR team compelled him to take another look. Any potential for controversy was then erased when Victor Boniface failed with a weak 9th-minute penalty. Trapp easily held the Nigerian's soft effort. Before a quarter-of-an-hour had been played, Brych once again found himself checking the sideline screen.

Andrich caught Marmoush's leg at the very edge of the Frankfurt penalty area in the 14th. Brych surveyed the scene and once again and pointed to the spot. Marmoush took the penalty himself and converted the 1-0 in the 16th. Frankfurt's Egyptian sensation found himself unlucky not to net the match's first goal just earlier. The perpetually shot-out-of-a-cannon Marmoush struck the post in the 12th.

Andrich ended up redeeming himself by scoring the 1-1 in the 25th. The German national team midfielder slotted home the equalizer at the tail end of a beautifully worked team sequence that featured double one-touch give-and-gos with himself, Adli, and Terrier. Andrich remained hungry and very nearly scored again in the 25th when he spotted Trapp off his line from midfield.

The first-half concluded without any more goals thanks to the fact that another Marmoush effort was chalked off due to a clear offside position from Imbibe in the 45th. Apart from a Boniface chance in the 49th, not much of interest occurred after the restart until a double chance involving Andrich and Frimpong in the 63rd. Leverkusen then proceeded to dominate after Wirtz's introduction in the 64th.

Wirtz shifted the entire tenor of the match. The German phenom nearly scored himself in the 68th before successfully setting up Boniface's 2-1 in the 72nd. Wirtz remained active until the very end, nearly setting up and scoring goals until the full-time whistle blew. In the end, Germany's red company team celebrated a deserved victory.

Elsewhere in the Bundesliga's 15:30 Kickoffs:

Hoffenheim-Bochum

Over at the PreZero Arena in Sinsheim, TSG 1899 Hoffenheim head-coach Pellegrino Matarazzo welcomed his former Nürnberg II trainer Peter Zeidler's VfL Bochum to the Rhein-Neckar Region. The hosts snatched an early lead via an 11th-minute Andrej Kramaric goal. The loyal Croat "club man" could have easily scored several more before the opening 45 was out. Kramaric came close with two more top-quality efforts and even struck the crossbar.

A badly beat-back Bochum side had almost nothing to offer, not even after Zeidler went with a triple substitution at the half. The Revierklub still kept themselves within striking distance for a time until Maris Bülter netted the 2-0 in the 64th. Bochum were somewhat fortunate that Bülter saw a potentially decisive goal disallowed for offside in the 50th.

One Bochum sub, Lukas Daschner, did well to help set up a pull-back goal in the 76th. Cristian Gamboa's tally gave Zeidler's men some hope. Daschner later received the chance to make himself the hero of the match when gifted a chance to equalize from the spot in the 89th. The 26-year-old failed with a weak effort. Haris Tabakovic then added the 3-1 at 90+3.

Freiburg-Augsburg

Down south on the banks of the Dreisam, Julian Schuster's SC Freiburg played hosts to Jess Thorup's FC Augsburg. After a relatively even opening half-hour, everything fell apart for the Fuggerstädter when the hosting Breisgauer scored three goals in quick succession. Freiburg mainstays Vincenzo Grifo and Philipp Lienhart put the Sport Club up 2-0 with respective strikes in the 34th and 37th.

SCF captain Christian Günter then sent home a screamer just before it was time to head into the tunnel. Freiburg remained professional and workmanlike in defense of their 3-0 lead, but FCA striker Philipp Tietz showed great determination to pull a goal back in the 65th with a strong dribble and finish against a tight marking Patrick Osterhage.

Unfortunately for the guests, that would be essentially all that was left in the match. Dimitrios Giannoulis missed the only other major chance of note. Freiburg too ended up prevailing over their opponents via a 3-1 scoreline. Schuster's men move up into second place in the Bundesliga table with the victory.

Mainz-Leipzig

In the capital of the Rhineland Palatinate, Jürgen Klopp's first club and his latest employer squared off at the MEWA Arena. Bo Henriksen's Mainz unfortunately couldn't deliver coherent football against their superior opponents and conceded two first-half goals. RB Leipzig Tallies from Xavi Simons and Willi Orban weren't exactly glittering examples of footballing skill either in what was largely a choppy and sloppy affair.

The general level of play foot both teams improved after the restart, but both the Pfälzer and their Saxon guests had great difficulty finishing off chances. RB attacker Benjamin Sesko in particular didn't cut a fine figure with two bad misses in the 70th and 72nd. There would be no more goals from either side. Leipzig do move to the top of the table with what could be described as an "ugly win".

Gladbach-Heidenheim

Up north in the Niederrhein, a match with some interesting reunification connotations took place at Borussia Park. For all the talk of Tim Kliendienst facing his old club, however, the newly-called-up German national team striker wasn't much of a factor in the early going. Leonardo Scienza and Ko Itakura traded first-half goals. A slightly better Gladbach side nevertheless couldn't get back ahead on the scoresheet.

Kleindienst finally made an impact with a super-slick back-heel goal in the 62nd. The long-time FCH front man then officially bagged a brace with a conversion from the penalty spot in the 75th. Heidenheim made matters interesting when Marvin Pieringer himself converted a handball penalty in the 80th. The match nevertheless ended in a 3-2 win for Kleindienst's Fohlen.