5th matchday
Leverkusen wins confidently, but loses first place
Double packer Victor Boniface (r) and Jeremie Frimpong celebrate after scoring the 1-0 lead. photo
© Marius Becker/dpa
With a difference of six goals, Bayer Leverkusen should have won to return to the top of the table. Despite many chances against Heidenheim, this was far from possible.
Won high again – but not high enough: Bayer Leverkusen underlined its impressive form in the 4-1 (1-0) win against promoted team 1. FC Heidenheim, but still lost its lead in the Bundesliga.
In order to overthrow series champions FC Bayern Munich from the top of the table after their 7-0 win against VfL Bochum, a victory with a difference of six goals would have been necessary, which Bayer was far from achieving in the end due to their almost absurdly negligent exploitation of opportunities. The previous week, coach Xabi Alonso’s team maintained their top position with a 2-2 draw in a direct duel in Munich.
After the in-form Eren Dinkci equalized Leverkusen’s early lead by Victor Boniface (9th) with his fourth goal in the last three games (58th), national player Jonas Hofmann (62nd), Boniface again scored with his sixth goal of the season (74th). , penalty kick) and substitute Amine Adli (82nd) for the fourth win in the fifth game. After the club’s first ever Bundesliga point in a 2-2 draw in Dortmund and its first win in a 4-2 win against Bremen, Heidenheim suffered another setback.
Leverkusen dominates, Boniface scores
After making five changes to the starting line-up before Thursday’s 4-0 win in the Europa League against Swedish champions BK Häcken, Alonso had completely rotated back and called up the team that had played on the first three matchdays.
Schmidt only changed his team in one position compared to Bremen: Nikola Dovedan replaced Marvin Pieringer and made his starting eleven debut in the Bundesliga. The midfielder was one of five professionals from the Heidenheim matchday squad who had already played in the only competitive game – a 2-1 win for FCH in the 2019 cup round of 16. He even scored a goal against Leverkusen’s captain and goalkeeper Lukas Hradecky, who was the only one left at Bayer.
As always in the home games of the season so far, Leverkusen took control of the game from the first second. Heidenheim was lucky in the fifth minute when Boniface narrowly missed. Four minutes later the Nigerian was successful. After a pass from Exequiel Palacios, he shook off Tim Siersleben with a turn and pushed past Kevin Müller unstoppable. Afterwards, the guests at least closed the rooms a little better. The fact that the 0-1 score at the break was flattering was proven by the statistics: 12-0 shots on goal were recorded for Leverkusen, 5-0 corners, 74 percent of ball possession and 63 percent of duels won.
Card rush for Bayer
In return, Bayer were lucky that Palacios, who had already been warned, did not have to leave the field in the 37th minute because he had previously hit the ball during a foul against Dovedan. However, Alonso had basic trust in the best player of the first half and left the Argentine world champion on the field until the 71st minute – which was rewarded with the brilliant assist before making it 2-1. Also because the preliminary decision had not yet been made, there was initially little change in the proportions of the game. When Dinkci took advantage of the visitors’ first real shot on goal, the game seemed to be turned on its head, but Leverkusen immediately hit back. After the third goal, Heidenheim’s defense was broken.