Almost 54 minutes had passed when something extraordinary happened in the Leverkusen Arena. First: Union Berlin launched a joint attack. Second: For the first time, all Berlin players crossed the center line. Should this moment mark a turning point? Should Union suddenly come out of cover and punish Bayer Leverkusen for their negligence in only scoring a single goal despite numerous opportunities?
Yes, those were the questions that the 29,384 spectators were allowed to ask themselves at that moment, but if they doubted like that, they didn’t doubt for more than a few blinks of an eye. After the Union team had unsuccessfully taken their first and ultimately only corner kick, the situation returned to the old picture. Bayer Leverkusen dominated the scene, controlled the ball – and ultimately scored the necessary goals. The 4-0, which was on the scoreboard after two minutes of injury time, expressed the league leaders’ superiority appropriately, but by no means sufficiently. The league hasn’t seen such a one-sided football game like this for a long time. “It was a class difference today,” said Urs Fischer, the Berlin coach.
However, the people at FC Union would be making it too easy for themselves if they declared themselves the victims of a confident opponent, because the issue was not the playful splendor of the Leverkusen team, but rather the shocking lack of ambition of the Berliners. Fischer’s concept was already apparent after eleven seconds: He had a four-man defense line set up in front of the five-man defense chain, with David Fofana acting as the lone striker. So far, nothing special if a relegation candidate starts with the top team. But even the basic ingredients for building walls were missing. “You have to be brave, you have to have confidence in yourself, but we couldn’t manage that,” said coach Fischer.
Fighting spirit and passion only flashed in a sequence that followed Jonathan Tah’s 3-0 lead (73′) – in the protests to referee Timo Gerach. The Unioners complained about a handball, and they were wrong there too. “We have to improve in many areas, otherwise it will be very difficult to stay in class,” stated Christopher Trimmel.
Xabi Alonso is only left with polite phrases after the 4-0 win against Union
It wasn’t “easy,” said Bayer coach Xabi Alonso, there wasn’t “that much space” available, but those were probably just phrases of politeness because his autumnally depressed colleague Fischer was sitting next to him. In truth, Alonso had had a relaxing afternoon. His team found its way well in the Berlin defensive thicket, the 1-0 in the 23rd minute thanks to another artificial shot by defender Grimaldo after a neat assist from Florian Wirtz was preceded by several high-class chances, but center forward Victor Boniface seemed a bit tired and unfocused when it really mattered.
Until the break, the Leverkusen team put themselves to sleep a bit with their short passing games in midfield, and even after the change they still needed a few minutes to think about it. Defender Odilon Kossonou made it 2-0 after Jonas Hofmann’s corner (53′) – “and then the story was finished today,” said Union player Trimmel. The rest was easy for Bayer, who scored 4-0 at high speed with a nice encore from substitutes Adli and Tella.
While Alonso and his team set a record, namely the starting record of his compatriot Pep Guardiola with FC Bayern – ten wins, one draw after eleven match days – Fischer and his team are now bottom of the table and Champions League participants at the same time. Alonso takes his record casually. “A record doesn’t mean that much, but 31 points is important,” he said. Fischer, on the other hand, senses the danger of the trend. He appreciates the fact that he was celebrated by the Berlin fans who traveled with him: “I recognize the trust, the club has also made a clear statement. But that is no guarantee of a job. The situation is constantly being reassessed.” On Sunday there were the worst possible marks for the Unioner’s performance.