2-0 against Freiburg - Poku and Tapsoba score for dominant Werkself

Compared with the defeat in the UEFA Champions League against Paris Saint-Germain, head coach Kasper Hjulmand made two changes to his starting eleven. Jarell Quansah returned to the Werkself central defence in place of Robert Andrich, while Jonas Hofmann replaced Claudio Echeverri in attacking midfield.Patrik Schick was also back in the squad following injury but he started on the bench.

Werkself in charge – Poku scores

After the first few minutes when Mark Flekken made two saves to deny Derry Scherhant (2’) and Junior Adamu (4’), Bayer 04 forward Christian Kofane had his first effort on goal with a header, but he aimed a little too high (6'). In the minutes that followed, the Werkself increasingly took control of the game - and were rewarded for their efforts shortly after that. Alejandro Grimaldo first failed to beat SC Freiburg goalkeeper Noah Atubolu with a free-kick (17'), but then Ernest Poku opened the scoring following a one-two with Aleix Garcia with a shot into the bottom right-hand corner from around 17 metres to give his side a 1-0 lead (22').

The Werkself kept Freiburg quiet with no further chances concede before half-time. Grimaldo and Hofmann repeatedly got involved in the build-up play, winning the ball and then distributing it to Arthur and Poku on the wings. With this organised display Bayer 04 took a deserved lead into the half-time break.

Tapsoba scores as Schick makes Comeback 

From the restart, the Werkself continued to look for the deep spaces. A long-range shot from Garcia flew just wide of the target on 48 minutes, but the second goal soon followed. A Grimaldo cross found the head of the Edmond Tapsoba who converted with ease to double the lead (52'). The Black and Reds remained on the front foot after that and could well have added to their lead with a double chance for Poku and Arthur (54') plus an effort from Kofane (58').

However, Bayer 04 were in little danger of conceding a goal and controlled the game with passing moves that sometimes lasted several minutes. The sending off of Freiburg's Philipp Lienhart, who was shown the red card after a foul on substitute Ibrahim Maza (74'), also played into Leverkusen's hands. Robert Andrich and Patrik Schick, who made his comeback after four weeks out injured, also came on. With the extra player on the pitch, Leverkusen were once again able to pass the ball with accuracy, rarely allowed Freiburg to get possession and easily maintainedon to the lead at the end of the 90 minutes.

coming up: DFB Pokal then Bayern munich

In the second of three consecutive busy weeks for Bayer 04, the Werkself travel to SC Paderborn 07 in three days' time on Wednesday, 29 October (kick-off: 18:00 CET) for the second round tie in the DFB Pokal. The game away to the second division club is followed by a trip to the Bundesliga leaders on Saturday, 1 November. The top match at Bayern Munich kicks off at 18:30 CET.

Match stats:

Bayer 04: Flekken - Quansah (Belocian 76’), Badé, Tapsoba - Arthur, Fernández (Andrich 67’), Garcia, Grimaldo - Hofmann (Maza 67’), Poku (Ben Seghir 85’) - Kofane (Schick 76’)

SC Freiburg: Atubolu - Kübler (Rosenfelder 67’), Ginter, Lienhart, Makengo - Eggestein, Manzambi (Matanovic 67’) - Treu, Höler (Grifo 85’), Scherhant (Günter 77’) - Adamu (Suzuki 46’)

Goals: 1-0 Poku (22'), 2-0 Tapsoba (52')

Red cards: Lienhart

Yellow cards: Garcia

Referee: Harm Osmers (Hanover)

Attendance: 30,210 (sold out) at the BayArena