Leverkusen defeat Wolfsburg to stay on course for Bundesliga title

Nathan Tella and Florian Wirtz scored as Bayer Leverkusen beat 10-man Wolfsburg 2-0 on Sunday to edge their team closer to a maiden Bundesliga title.

Bayern Munich's 8-1 win over Mainz on Saturday, including Harry Kane's fourth hat-trick of the season, had cut the gap to seven points.

Now, with nine games remaining, Leverkusen, who are still unbeaten in all competitions this season, sit 10 points ahead.

"It wasn't easy, but it was highly deserved," said Leverkusen's Granit Xhaka. "I'm sure the fans would have wished for more goals, but three points are three points."

Leverkusen were handed an advantage when Wolfsburg's Moritz Jenz picked up a second yellow card after 28 minutes.

It was the third league match in a row where Leverkusen's opponents finished with 10 men, showing the impact of the relentless pressure of coach Xabi Alonso's high-energy football.

"We could have maybe taken more risks, but we didn't want that. We wanted to be patient and we wanted to wait," Alonso told DAZN.

Leverkusen took to the field just two days after returning from Azerbaijan, where they fought back from 2-0 down to draw 2-2 at Qarabag in the Europa League last 16.

Alonso made eight changes to keep his side fresh while impressive wing-back Jeremie Frimpong was forced to watch from the stands due to suspension.

The hosts opened the scoring 11 minutes after Jenz's red card when Tella leapt high to head in a delightful Alex Grimaldo chip, the Spaniard's 11th assist of the campaign.

Wirtz, who kick-started the resurgence in Thursday's match in Baku with a beautiful chipped goal, added the second on Sunday with four minutes remaining.