Goals either side of half time helped Bayer Leverkusen to a 2-0 victory over SC Freiburg in the Bundesliga this afternoon.
Sami Hyypia's men looked dangerous from the off, with early chances falling to Andre Schurrle and Stefan Kiebling, so it was no surprise when they took an eighth-minute lead through Gonzalo Castro.
Freiburg had the opportunity to draw level on the half-hour mark when midfielder Max Kruse gave his marker the slip, only to shoot wide.
Castro almost doubled his and Leverkusen's tally for the afternoon three minutes later with a well-struck effort from long-range, but visiting keeper Oliver Baumann was equal to it.
It was end-to-end action early in the second half. Leverkusen had a chance to double their lead through Michal Kadlec, and Freiburg could have equalised with a Sebastian Freis effort.
Hyypia's side maintained the lion's share of the possession, and went two to the good in the 54th minute when Castro's in-swinging corner was bundled into the net by Philipp Wollscheid.
Freiburg almost pulled one back through Garra Dembele late on, but Leverkusen's impressive defence restricted them to long-range efforts in the latter stages to keep the score at 2-0 until the final whistle.
Mark Langshaw
