With each name, the local visitors grew louder and louder. Disbelief spread, because after Jonas Hofmann, the surprising defector from Borussia Mönchengladbach, who was received with a special round of applause at the new job, the stadium announcer welcomed the tongue-clicking summer shopping Victor Boniface and Alejandro Grimaldo as well as the from England returned granite Xhaka. It was an atmosphere not experienced in this often so subdued setting, even in the days of Lúcio and Ballack, Zé Roberto and Kirsten.
The ecstasy of the fans, who would later play an important role, extended into the game. It had all the criteria of a top game, including the punchlines and dramatic twists, well beyond Leverkusen’s wild 3-2 (2-1) win.
Bayer 04 pressed in the opponent’s penalty area – but failed to counterattack early on
In the first few minutes, the Werkself attacked the prominent opponent from Leipzig as if it weren’t the club that humiliated FC Bayern in Munich a week ago. Some seven of the Leverkusen team pressed on and in the opposing penalty area, forcing dangerous situations every 20 seconds. And if instinct footballer Florian Wirtz had had a normal first quarter of an hour and hadn’t made exactly the wrong decision three times when counterattacking, Leipzig could have conceded goals early on.
After ten minutes, the hosts then shifted down a gear, which is understandable given the exhausting climate in the laundry room. But what particularly pleased Bayer coach Xabi Alonso was the way his team dominated in every zone of the field, with the necessary aggressiveness in tackles and smooth one-touch football under construction. “They were better than us there,” was part one of RB coach Marco Rose’s conclusion.
Dramaturgically clever, Bayer 04 finally took the lead just before the heat break. The powerful accession Victor Boniface missed his own conclusion, but he followed up, and his sharply kicked flat pass reached the six-yard box – proof of the flexible Bayer offensive – the 1.70 meter tall Jeremie Frimpong, who was rotated to Boniface’s position and between the Giants completed (23rd minute). Tah then made it 2-0, who was blatantly alone after a corner kick (34′); and a little later the 2: 1 through a header from Dani Olmo (38th), which Boniface had lost sight of in a corner kick – Bayer is still too generous for a title candidate.
Bayer’s new number 10 doesn’t hit the ball perfectly – but that’s exactly what the goal does
As Bayer fate seems to be, this mistake was enough to unsettle the team – but not on the offensive. Wirtz got going there. He missed the first chance of the second half, after a phenomenal pass from Hofmann – or rather: thwarted guest goalkeeper Janis Blaswich fantastically from a short distance. Shortly afterwards, Frimpong darted down the right flank again, and Wirtz found his low pass behind the Leipzig defense on the edge of the penalty area. The Leverkusen player, who has worn the number 10 shirt this season, didn’t hit the ball perfectly, but that was exactly what turned the ill-fated finish into an untenable arc lamp.
While celebrating this beautiful goal (63rd), a Bayer fan fell off the fence. After that it quickly got spooky. While doctors were taking care of the patient behind a screen directly behind the guest gate, the fans from the curve remained silent out of tact and solidarity; Word only slowly got around in the grandstand about what had happened, and then it became quieter than it had been since the Corona days. It was as if crickets had suddenly stopped chirping.
When they noticed, the players seemed insecure – the Leverkusen team more than the guests. Another standard situation (David Raum on Mohamed Simakan on Lois Openda) brought Leipzig up to 2:3 (70th), and right after the second heat break, Bayer was now really disordered, the Belgian should have scored his second goal: trying to to clarify a tricky situation, Frimpong played the ball right at Openda’s foot. However, he was initially surprised by the template, turned briskly around his own axis and put the ball – on the post. “That would not have been undeserved,” said the guest coach in the second part of his summary.
“Whoever wins this game – and that was us – makes a statement”
Leverkusen swam and sweated across the finish line, the elegantly playing team does not seem to be able to go the intended pace for 90 minutes. But a start has been made in terms of points, “at least until next Saturday,” said Xabi Alonso, who had previously said: “We’re not stupid and think we’re the best without having done anything. Yes, we have one good feeling. But first we have to show what we can do on the pitch.” Jonas Hofmann thought they did: “It was clear in advance: Whoever wins this game – and that was us – makes a statement. And that’s it now.”
PS: By the way, the fallen fan is supposed to be fine – one last piece of good news from this exciting afternoon.