15th matchday
3-0 against Frankfurt: Leverkusen Christmas champions
Bayer’s Victor Boniface (r) celebrates his goal to make it 1-0 with Bayer’s Jonas Hofmann. photo
© Marius Becker/dpa
Eintracht Frankfurt has had nothing to gain from Bayer Leverkusen for years. And especially not in this strong Leverkusen season. Bayer will therefore overwinter as league leaders.
With 3-0 (1-0), the Werkself celebrated their tenth consecutive home win in all competitions against the Hessians with 35:5 goals and can no longer be overtaken on the last matchday of the year during the week. Victor Boniface (14th), Jeremie Frimpong (51st) and Florian Wirtz (57th) scored the goals for the 21st win in the 24th competitive game without defeat.
This first unofficial mini title is just the beginning for coach Xabi Alonso’s record hunters. Bayer is not only top of the Bundesliga, but is also one of three Bundesliga teams in the quarter-finals and is also the clear favorite in the DFB Cup. In addition, Leverkusen is also one of the title candidates in the Europa League as the only club with only victories in the preliminary round.
At the end of the year on the penultimate half-series matchday, Leverkusen will welcome relegation candidates VfL Bochum on Wednesday – although they have been very stable recently – and can make the first half of the championship perfect. After highs and lows such as the cup exit in Saarbrücken and the 5-1 win against FC Bayern, the eighth-placed team from Frankfurt awaits Borussia Mönchengladbach at the end of the year within four days.
Eintracht attack early
Even without the suspended striker Omar Marmoush, Eintracht surprised by being the first team in Leverkusen this season to seek salvation from the first second. The Hessians put the Werkself under pressure early on, pressed well and played quickly forward. But the surprise tactic didn’t lead to the opening goal – and then Bayer took their first chance ice cold. Frankfurt’s national goalkeeper Kevin Trapp also helped out a lot; the ball slipped under his upper body during Boniface’s durable 14-meter shot. While Alonso enthusiastically celebrated the goal, Toppmöller accepted it almost motionlessly.
From then on the game went as expected. Leverkusen controlled the ball and the game, Frankfurt wanted to remain visibly courageous, but were too busy running into spaces to be able to develop as desired. However, Bayer only had one significant chance to score before the break when specialist Alejandro Grimaldo hit the crossbar with a free kick from 22 meters (35′). The fact that the Leverkusen team is not only defined by the playful component was shown by the fact that they only committed a single foul in the entire first half and still won almost 60 percent of the duels.
After the break, the league leaders quickly became determined. This time Trapp saved a shot from Boniface from a similar position, but deflected it too short to the side and winger Frimpong used the rebound to score his fifth goal of the season. The Frankfurters now moved up and Bayer got space. Boniface also made it 3-0, Wirtz lofted the ball over Trapp, who had no chance this time. Wirtz (81′) and Piero Hincapie (84′) hit the post. According to video evidence, a foul penalty was rightly taken away from the hosts in stoppage time.