Bayer 04 Leverkusen underpins European ambitions: series also lasts in the top game against RB Leipzig

Flying high in Europe, catching up in the league: Bayer Leverkusen’s title chasers continued their impressive run against RB Leipzig. Three days after jumping into the Europa League semi-finals, coach Xabi Alonso’s mercilessly effective team beat the DFB Cup winners 2-0 (1-0) and carefully targeted the Champions League places.

Adam Hlozek (40′) and Nadiem Amiri (86′, penalty kick) scored the goals in front of 29,085 spectators for Leverkusen, who remained unbeaten in their eighth league game in a row without Florian Wirtz. Leipzig, who lost in their seventh away game at Bayer for the first time and ended the game with ten men after a yellow-red card against Dominik Szoboszlai (85th), are only four points away and slipped out of the premier class places after the 29th matchday. Bayer lurks immediately behind in sixth place.

After reaching the first European Cup semi-final in 21 years on Thursday, Alonso made three changes – twice of them forced: The in-form Wirtz was absent late on Sunday afternoon due to gastrointestinal problems, as was Edmond Tapsoba, who had to sit out due to muscular problems.

Against feared opponents Leipzig, who had lost only two of 13 competitive games against the Rhinelanders before the duel, Leverkusen initially acted much more passively than during the week at Union Saint-Gilloise (4: 1). The early stages belonged to the guests: Timo Werner, who scored twice in the 3-2 win against FC Augsburg, tested Bayer goalkeeper Lukas Hradecky for the first time (6th).

Bayer 04 with mistakes in the build-up

Leverkusen repeatedly threw in unusual bad passes and technical errors in the game structure. However, Leipzig was initially unable to convert the ball gains into targeted attacks. The game flattened out as a result: Bayer usually let RB have the ball and waited for a counterattack – but initially played the few switching actions too imprecisely.

Out of nowhere, Piero Hincapie (32′) hit the crossbar from around 30 meters for the best Bayer scene so far, Leverkusen was now more active and rewarded: Hlozek completed a counterattack after a sharp cross from Moussa Diaby technically strong with his left.

The lead came as a surprise at this point and still gave Bayer security. Leipzig, who traveled to the Rhineland with three competitive wins in a row, seemed impressed.

Wirtz watched from the stands in heavy rain as Bayer managed the lead as the game went on. At the break, Rose had brought on Christopher Nkunku, who played the second game after tearing a muscle fiber, for Kevin Kampl and thus made an offensive substitution.

Nkunku (62nd) started the best phase in Leipzig with his graduation. The tired-looking Leverkusen limited themselves to defending and took the risk. Werner (66th) missed a huge chance against Hradecky. RB kept running – but was vulnerable to counterattacks. Szoboszlai brought Jeremie Frimpong down in such a Leverkusen attack and had to leave the field. Amiri converted from the penalty spot.

The voices:

Xabi Alonso (Bayer Leverkusen manager): “I’m very proud of the team. If you don’t play well, you have to be ready to fight and suffer. The team was ready for that. It might not have been our best game, but the three points are the most important thing for us. Now we have some time to recover.”

Marco Rose (RB Leipzig coach): “It was a game we shouldn’t lose. But we still lost: we should have earned it more. We started well and had a lot of control. Then at some point we forgot to really work towards goal. We don’t have enough Had the pace and sometimes acted uncleanly.”