Schick shines in Leverkusen's easy win over Freiburg in Bundesliga

BERLIN -- Patrik Schick scored four goals as Bayer Leverkusen tightened its grip on second place in the Bundesliga with an emphatic 5-1 win over Freiburg on Saturday.

Leverkusen dominated from the outset and created its first chance in the seventh minute when Florian Wirtz shot just wide.

On the half-hour mark Ritsu Doan fouled Wirtz in the area and Leverkusen was awarded a penalty. Wirtz stepped up, but was denied by Freiburg goalkeeper Noah Atubolu.

Leverkusen broke the deadlock on the stroke of halftime when Wirtz played a perfectly weighted through ball to Schick, who calmly chipped the ball past onrushing Atubolu.

Leverkusen doubled its lead six minutes going into the second half. Wirtz showed his individual brilliance, weaving through the Freiburg defense before unleashing a close-range shot into the bottom corner of the net.

Freiburg responded swiftly in the 55th minute when Vincenzo Grifo curled a precise shot from 16 meters into the far corner.

Wirtz turned provider again in the 67th minute, delivering a pinpoint cross that Schick headed home to restore Leverkusen's two-goal cushion.

Schick completed his hat-trick minutes later when he pounced on a rebound from 14 meters out, and the Czech striker sealed his fourth of the night in the 77th minute to round off a dominant performance.

Freiburg, who could not recover from Schick's 10-minute onslaught, suffered its fifth defeat of the season and slipped to eighth in the table. Meanwhile, Leverkusen remained four points behind leader Bayern Munich in contention for the title.

"We kept our composure and continued to play relentlessly, and that is a quality we have. We had to show our desire to win," said Bayer Leverkusen sporting director Simon Rolfes.

Elsewhere, 10-man Mainz notched its second straight victory with an impressive 3-1 win over third-placed Eintracht Frankfurt. Werder Bremen extended Union Berlin's winless run to nine games with a dominant 4-1 home victory. Holstein Kiel thumped Augsburg 5-1. Borussia Monchengladbach edged Hoffenheim 2-1, and St. Pauli stunned Stuttgart 1-0 thanks to Johannes Eggestein's decisive goal.