At Rot-Weiss Essen, things went haywire, especially shortly before the break, and VfL also took a point. Meanwhile, MSV had to admit defeat.

After FC Schalke 04 had already taken a 2-0 lead against Arminia Bielefeld on Saturday, moving one point ahead of Bayer 04 Leverkusen at the top overnight, the Werkself had to face Fortuna Düsseldorf at home on Sunday morning. In theory, it was a clear-cut affair for the still unbeaten Leverkusen side against the eleventh-placed team in the U17 Bundesliga West – in practice, however, it was a different story.

Leverkusen failed to take the lead against Düsseldorf for 90 minutes and the game ended 0-0. Schalke and Bayer 04 are now level on points at the top of the table, but the miners have taken first place due to the six-goal difference.

BVB narrowly beat RWO

Borussia Dortmund’s U17s are the new frontrunners, having closed the gap on the leaders to five points with a 1:0 away win at Rot-Weiß Oberhausen. Nick Cherny scored the golden goal of the day (38′). RWO, meanwhile, have to look down. One place above the relegation places, the gap to Viktoria Köln is just two points. Bielefeld lurk three points behind Oberhausen with one game less to play.

VfL Bochum, on the other hand, slipped to fourth place. At SC Paderborn, currently fifth, everything looked like a defeat early on. Kayonte George (16′) and Pedro Restrepo Naranjo (45′) put SCP 2-0 up at the break, but right-back Kacper Koscierski turned on the heat in the second half to give David Siebers’ side a point with a brace (63/86′).

RWE: Preßler shines with three goals

Rot-Weiss Essen, who went into the matchday in sixth place, and Viktoria Köln (previously 13th) also drew, but scored twice as many goals. The teams drew 4-4 in a turbulent match at Seumannstraße.

Thierry Abessouguie gave Cologne the lead early on (6′). Events then came thick and fast in the minutes before the break. First Boran Özbek (45) and Mats Preßler (45+1) turned the game around with a double strike. But Viktoria’s Keny Rakowiecki made it 2:2 before the half-time whistle (45+2).

RWE started the second half better and took the lead through Preßler from the penalty spot. However, the visitors did not give up and even turned the game around. Felix Albers (69) and Abessouguie again ensured that it looked like a surprising away win until shortly before the end. However, it was the outstanding Preßler who had the final say on the day, scoring his personal treble in the third minute of stoppage time to make it 4-4.

Duisburg loses to Gladbach

MSV Duisburg, on the other hand, suffered another setback. The Zebras lost 2-0 at Borussia Mönchengladbach. After a goalless first half, Christos Venos (60′) and Mathieu Nguefack (83′) scored for the foals