Bayer Leverkusen close on Bayern Munich while French giants suffer cup woe

Alex Grimaldo’s free-kick proved the difference as champions Bayer Leverkusen kept up the pressure on Bundesliga leaders Bayern Munich with a 1-0 win over Mainz on Tuesday.

The Spaniard struck direct from a set-piece early in the second half at the BayArena as Xabi Alonso’s side moved within a point of Bayern at the top.

It was a dismal day for Borussia Dortmund as they were beaten 4-2 at struggling Holstein Kiel.

Kiel raced ahead with first-half goals from Shuto Machino, Phil Harres and Alexander Bernhardsson but were made to sweat as Dortmund responded after the break through Giovanni Reyna and Jamie Gittens.

The sending-off of Lewis Holtby four minutes from time gave under-pressure Nuri Sahin’s side further hope but Jann-Fiete Arp settled the contest in stoppage time.

Manchester City target Omar Marmoush was on target as third-placed Eintracht Frankfurt came from behind to beat Freiburg 4-1.

Robin Koch, Hugo Ekitike and Nnamdi Collins also scored as Frankfurt replied to Ritsu Doan’s opener in style.

Wolfsburg were even more emphatic winners as they thrashed Borussia Monchengladbach 5-1.

In Italy, Juventus played out yet another draw as their Serie A trip to third-placed Atalanta ended 1-1.

Pierre Kalulu put Juve ahead early in the second half in Bergamo but Mateo Retegui levelled 12 minutes from time.

Juve remain unbeaten this season but the draw was their 13th in 20 games and leaves them 13 points behind leaders Napoli.

AC Milan survived a scare to win 2-1 at Como. Assane Diao gave Como a surprise lead after an hour but Milan hit back through Theo Hernandez and Rafael Leao.

Marseille and Monaco, second and third in Ligue 1 respectively, were both dumped out of the French Cup at the last-32 stage on penalties.

Luis Henrique had scored a stoppage-time equaliser to pull Marseille’s clash with Lille back to 1-1 but he then missed as they went down 4-3 on spot-kicks. Monaco were held 1-1 by Reims and then lost 3-1 on penalties.