Bundesliga champions Bayer Leverkusen extended their season-long unbeaten run to 48 games with a 5-1 win at Eintracht Frankfurt on Sunday.

With Xabi Alonso forced to watch from the stands due to a yellow card suspension, Leverkusen turned on the style, winning with goals from Granit Xhaka, Patrik Schick, Jeremie Frimpong and penalties from Exequiel Palacios and Victor Boniface.

Alonso left midfield lynchpin Florian Wirtz, who turned 21 on Friday, out of the squad with Thursday’s second Champions League semi-final against Roma in mind, but Leverkusen had no problems in attack.

Xhaka opened the scoring with a long-range effort, before Frankfurt equalised through Hugo Ekitike, who scored for the third game in succession.

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Schick headed Bayer Leverkusen back in front just before half-time and World Cup winner Palacios scored a third from the penalty spot on the 58-minute mark.

The floodgates opened in the final stages, with Frimpong scoring just five minutes after coming on and then won a penalty with three minutes remaining.

Boniface converted the spot kick for Leverkusen’s first win in Frankfurt for six years.

Bayer Leverkusen, who are unbeaten in 48 across all competitions, need to avoid defeat in two remaining league matches to become the first team to go unbeaten through a Bundesliga season.

Alonso’s side have a 2-0 advantage ahead of Thursday’s second Europa League semi-final leg at home and are through to the final of the German Cup, keeping their dreams of an incredible unbeaten treble alive.

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– Union on the edge –

Earlier on Sunday, Bochum won 4-3 at Union Berlin, pushing the hosts closer to the drop just months after they were playing in the Champions League.

In the top division since 2019, Union Berlin finished fourth last season and were playing Champions League football against Real Madrid as recently as December.

Having built their success on home form, a lethargic Union were 3-0 down by half-time thanks to a Maximilian Wittek brace and a goal from former Berliner Keven Schlotterbeck.

Coach Nenad Bjelica made three changes at the break and they had their desired impact immediately.

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Yorbe Vertessen and Chris Bedia, both of whom came off the bench, scored in a three-minute period to cut the deficit to one.

With Union on the march and looking for an equaliser, Bochum scored again, Philipp Hofmann heading in from close range.

The home side gave their fans hope again just four minutes later, Benedict Hollerbach again cutting the deficit to just a goal.

Union fought but could not score the equaliser and now sit just two points clear of Mainz in the relegation playoff spot.

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Mainz play at promoted Heidenheim later on Sunday and could leapfrog Union into safety.

Leeds loanee Brenden Aaronson, one of three Union players to be subbed on at half-time, criticised his team’s first-half performance.

“It was one of those days when we didn’t show up and that’s all there is to it.

“We need to band together and fight like we did in the second-half. That’s what we need to take away from this game.”

Bochum moved five clear of the drop with two games remaining this season.

PSV Eindhoven were crowned Dutch champions for the 25th time on Sunday, the club’s first title since 2018, in a season also notable for the implosion of rivals Ajax.

Peter Bosz’s men made sure of the Eredivisie trophy with two games to spare via a 4-2 win over Sparta Rotterdam in a party atmosphere at a sunny Philips Stadion.

This meant second-placed Feyenoord could no longer catch PSV, who celebrated in front of their jubilant fans at the final whistle.

It has been a season to remember for the Eindhoven club whose shirt has been graced by Brazilians Romario and Ronaldo, as well as Dutch legends Mark van Bommel and Arjen Robben.

They went 17 games before even dropping a point in the Eredivisie, finally losing their unbeaten record on the 27th matchday with a 3-1 loss away to NEC Nijmegen.

Particularly sweet was a 5-2 win at home to Ajax and a crunch 2-1 victory away in Feyenoord’s intimidating De Kuip stadium, which set PSV on their way towards the title.

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Central to PSV’s success this term has been the form of their veteran Dutch striker Luuk de Jong, whose 27 goals has made him the league’s joint top goalscorer.

This team has some way to go before matching the legendary 1987/88 Guus Hiddink-coached side that swept all before them, beating Benfica on penalties in the European Cup final.

But the Eredivisie trophy will assuage the frustrations of previous seasons when PSV finished second on three consecutive occasions, watching Ajax or Feyenoord lift the title.

PSV also enjoyed a good run in Europe, coming second in a Champions League group that included Arsenal, Sevilla and Lens, before crashing out to Borussia Dortmund in the last 16.

– Bliss for PSV, Horror for Ajax –

Feyenoord can count themselves unlucky to have come up against an all-conquering PSV this year — the Rotterdam club have only lost twice all season in the top flight.

The De Kuip faithful will settle for second place plus a Dutch Cup triumph but are set to lose their coach, with Arne Slot heading to Liverpool to replace Jurgen Klopp.

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Meanwhile, Ajax fans would settle for anything after a season which would have Johan Cruyff turning in his grave.

The four-time European Cup champions seem unlikely to qualify for any European football next season, lying a shocking fifth — nine points behind AZ Alkmaar.

The 5-2 win for PSV over Ajax in October was doubly joyous for the Eindhoven club as it also, briefly, condemned their perennial rivals to a historic last place in the Eredivisie.

Historic low followed historic low Ajax, a club that counts Cruyff, Marco Van Basten and Dennis Bergkamp as alumni, as they crashed out of the Dutch club to amateur club Hercules.

The nadir for the Amsterdam club came in early April when they suffered humiliation in De Kuip, losing 6-0 to Feyenoord in the Dutch “Klassieker.”

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Frustrations on the pitch have boiled over into violence in the stands and chaos in the boardroom.

CEO and chairman Alex Kroes was suspended on suspicion of insider trading, only to return a few weeks later as technical director.

A few days after his suspension, it emerged that club chairman Michael van Praag, who had vocally criticised Kroes, had “forgotten” to declare his own shares in the club to the correct authorities.

Vitesse Arnhem were relegated for the first time in 35 seasons after the Dutch federation imposed an 18-point penalty on them.

They currently sit on two points after their punishment for breaches of the league’s licensing regulations.

Erling Haaland scored four as Manchester City closed to within three games of an unprecedented fourth consecutive Premier League title by thrashing Wolves 5-1 at the Etihad.

Arsenal’s 3-0 win over Bournemouth earlier on Saturday had opened up a four-point lead for the Gunners.

But City showed no signs of feeling the pressure as they cut the gap back to one point and have three matches remaining to Arsenal’s two.

Haaland has faced criticism for not matching the standards of his stunning first season in Manchester, when he scored 52 goals as City won the treble.

However, the Norwegian took his tally for this season to 36 goals in 41 appearances with a devastating display of finishing.

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Haaland was restored to Pep Guardiola’s starting line-up after coming off the bench to score against Nottingham Forest last weekend on his return from injury.

Wolves had inflicted one of City’s just three Premier League defeats this season.

But the visitors were blown away as Guardiola’s men extended their unbeaten home streak to 43 games.

Wolves felt fortune also did not go their way as Haaland converted two first-half penalties.

Josko Gvardiol was wiped out by Rayan Ait-Nouri for the first spot-kick after the Croatian’s shot flew off target and Haaland sent Jose Sa the wrong way to open the floodgates.

The City striker then rose highest to power home a header from Rodri’s hanging cross to the back post.

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Haaland looked set to complete his hat-trick when he raced through in first-half stoppage time only to be clipped by Nelson Semedo.

Referee Craig Pawson initially waved play on, but overturned his decision after a VAR review.

Haaland showed no mercy to fire home his second hat-trick in as many appearances against Wolves at the Etihad.

Any suggestion City could rack up a huge score to chip away at their goal difference deficit compared to Arsenal was punctured as Wolves pulled a goal back early in the second period.

Ederson flapped at a cross from the right to tee up Hwang Hee-Chan perfectly to fire into an unguarded net.

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Yet, City’s three-goal cushion was restored in spectacular fashion within a minute.

Phil Foden’s long ball over the top picked out Haaland, who cut onto his lethal left foot and picked out the top corner.

Haaland’s four-goal haul looks to have settled the race for the Golden Boot as his 25 Premier League goals are now five more than Alexander Isak and Cole Palmer.

There could even have been more for City’s number nine, who has twice before scored five in one game since arriving in England.

Sa made a spectacular save to deny Haaland matching that feat once more.

And the 23-year-old was left less than impressed with Guardiola’s decision to hand him a rest for the final eight minutes when he was replaced by Julian Alvarez.

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The Argentine rounded off the scoring by finding the far corner from Rodri’s pass.

City are now unbeaten in 19 Premier League games and their only dropped points since February came in draws against title rivals Arsenal and Liverpool.

The defending champions travel to Fulham and Tottenham in their next two games before hosting West Ham on the final day of the season.

Arsenal must hope there is one more twist in the title race to come if they are to end a 20-year wait to win the league.

But City show no signs of slipping up in their quest to become the first side to ever win four consecutive English top-flight titles.