Werkself fight back in tough test against Celta Vigo

The Werkself refused to be cowed after going behind and they asserted their presence on the game leaving the Spanish top-flight side little chance to open up. That led to the Werkself creating a lot of good goalscoring opportunities: Kevin Volland (11', 36'), Dominik Kohr (12', 25'), Karim Bellarabi (15', 23') and Admir Mehmedi (31') were unable to find the back of the Celta Vigo net. The Herrlich team were unlucky to go into half-time 1-0 down. Apart from the goal, there was little to see of the visitors in attack.
An unchanged Werkself eleven continued in the same vein after the restart. An aggressive approach to challenges saw Bayer 04 win possession and create chance after chance. The second goal of the match came out of the blue with Celta Vigo doubling their lead thanks again to Guidetti who beat Leno in the penalty area on 61 minutes. There appeared to be a foul on Sven Bender near the halfway line in the build-up but to the surprise of many of the Bayer 04 players it was not seen by referee Sven Wachitzki.

Anybody who thought the Werkself might fold after conceding a second goal was to be disappointed. Driven on by Kevin Kampl and Dominik Kohr, the 15,000-strong crowd saw the hosts stand-up bravely and it was all one-way traffic after that. There was great belief amongst the Black and Reds when Admir Mehmedi chested down the ball to hit a powerful volley into the far corner to pull a goal back on 65 minutes. Four minutes later came the equaliser from substitute Joel Pohjanpalo with a fine low effort. And celebrations were even more evident at the BayArena when Kevin Volland hit a shot from the edge of the box on 77 minutes with the ball ending in the back of the net to put the Werkself 3-2 up.
The brilliant performance of the Werkself was then tarnished slightly by an equaliser for the Celta Vigo scored by Maxi Gómez on 83 minutes. "It's annoying that it ended 3-3. We deserved to win today. Unfortunately, we again failed to convert our chances, particularly in the first half," said Heiko Herrlich who is convinced his team is on course for the forthcoming cup game in Karlsruhe.

Bayer 04: Leno – Henrichs (Baumgartlinger 81’), Tah, S. Bender (Ramalho 68’), Wendell – Kampl, Kohr – Bellarabi (Bailey 81’), Mehmedi – Havertz (Pohjanpalo 60’), Volland