Leverkusen coach Bosz waves white flag in title race

BERLIN: Bayer Leverkusen coach Peter Bosz effectively waved the white flag in the Bundesliga title race Sunday after back-to-back defeats convinced him Bayern Munich will again be champions this season - for the ninth straight year.

Bayern had replaced Leverkusen as league leaders a fortnight ago with a 2-1 away win over Bosz’s team thanks to Robert Lewandowski’s last-gasp winning goal.

Leverkusen lost again on Saturday when a second-half own goal by Edmond Tapsoba led to a shock 2-1 defeat by Eintracht Frankfurt.

Just a third of the season has gone, but Bosz was still annoyed a day after their latest defeat left Leverkusen third in the table, two points behind Bayern.

“A top team doesn’t lose twice in succession,” Bosz fumed Sunday as a guest on ZDF’s Sportstudio show.

With a bitter air of disillusionment, he added: “Bayern will again be the best team” at the end of the season, although RB Leipzig claimed top spot on Saturday with a 1-0 win at Stuttgart.

Bosz’s attitude was a far cry from a fortnight ago, confidently replying “Bayer Leverkusen” when asked who would be German champions in 2020/21.

The crest-fallen Dutchman saw “no winners’ mentality” from his team in Frankfurt. “Everything was bad.”

Bosz was particularly irritated by the latest set-back, because “we have shown that we can do better” this season.

Midfielder Nadiem Amiri, who scored Leverkusen’s early opening goal with a deft back-heel, described defeat to Frankfurt as “a slip-up. We’ll keep going”.

However, he admitted “there was no life in us” as Leverkusen failed to fight back after Amin Younes equalised before Leverkusen’s Tapsoba turned the ball into his own net. Bosz promises “we will be better” for next Saturday’s league match against Werder Bremen.