Florian Wirtz celebrates after scoring Leverkusen's second goal Florian Wirtz celebrates after scoring Leverkusen's second goal

Florian Wirtz played a starring role as Bayer Leverkusen overcame Borussia Monchengladbach 3-1 at BayArena. (More Football News)vvjl

The influential midfielder scored two goals and set up the other, as Xabi Alonso's side maintained the pressure on Bundesliga leaders Bayern Munich.

Leverkusen suffered an early setback with an ankle injury forcing off Martin Terrier after just nine minutes.

However, they took the lead in the 32nd minute when Wirtz skipped away from a challenge before slotting past Monchengladbach goalkeeper Moritz Nicolas.

The Germany international doubled the hosts' lead from the penalty spot just after the hour mark after Julian Weigl handled in the box.

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He then turned provider for Patrik Schick in the 74th minute, before Tim Kleindienst grabbed a consolation for the visitors in stoppage time.

The team led by Ammad Butt, finally secured their first victory with a 2-1 win over Japan and then delivered a decisive 5-1 win against China, to enter the semi-finals. Their final pool match ended in a narrow 2-1 loss to India.

Now, the top four teams have entered the semifinals and the last two teams will have to fight for the fifth spot on the table. India have won all of their five matches. Pakistan are second with two wins and two draws.

We are SO back though.#B04BMG pic.twitter.com/wlwzBfL5Ql

— Bayer 04 Leverkusen (@bayer04_en) January 18, 2025

Data Debrief: Leverkusen record 11th straight win

Following Bayern's victory over Wolfsburg earlier on Saturday, Leverkusen returned to within four points of the Bundesliga leaders with an 11th straight win across all competitions.

The Werkself's only longer winning streak since their promotion to Bundesliga in 1979 came last season, when they won 17 consecutive games between September and November 2023.

Though academic in terms of the resultvvjl, Kleindienst's late strike saw him become only the second player to score three Bundesliga goals against Leverkusen since the start of 2024 after Lois Openda.