2-1 at Bielefeld – Dragovic secures next win

Simon Rolfes was suitably happy after the final whistle. "It was a deserved win because Bielefeld practically didn't have any real chances. We really helped them out with the equaliser and played into Arminia's hands. That made it even more important for us to score the winner in the end,"

The match against Bielefeld marked the start of a demanding and hectic fixture schedule for Bayer 04 with ten games in 33 days. Coach Peter Bosz, who celebrated his 57th birthday on this matchday, made two changes to his starting line-up in comparison to the last match against Mönchengladbach . Central defender Edmond Tapsoba (Covid-19 infection after international duty with Burkina Faso) was replaced by Jonathan Tah and Daley Sinkgraven came in at left-back in place of Wendell. The Werkself are still missing long-term absentees Paulinho, Santiago Arias, Exequiel Palacios plus the skipper Charles Aránguiz. Patrik Schick returned to the squad for the first time since the game in Stuttgart on 3 October.

Bielefeld, who did not have any players on international duty in contrast to the Werkself, were looking to get back on track after five defeats in succession while Bayer 04 arrived at the Shüco Arena following four wins on the bounce. Both teams initially focused on retaining the ball and keeping their shape. Bayer 04 were in control mode from the start and maintained possession wherever possible. The Werkself had the first chance on goal on 12 minutes: Nadiem Amiri played the ball forward as he tried to pick out Moussa Diaby but Cedric Brunner intervened to clear the danger. Shortly after that, Diaby hit a shot from the left side of the penalty area but the Bielefeld keeper Stefan Ortega dived to the near post to turn the ball away for a corner (15').

Bailey opens the scoring with a cracker

Bielefeld completely handed over the initiative the Bayer 04. But Leverkusen were not even tempted to take too much risk. Instead they were even more relaxed and showed great understanding of the game when the opportunities arose: Leon Bailey played a one-two with Florian Wirtz before sprinting past Anderson Lucoqui, who was in the Bayer 04 youth set-up for several years, the rifle the ball over Ortega's head from six yards out under the bar at the near post to give Bayer 04 the lead (27'). In an incident with Sinkgraven, who came into contact with Ritsu Doan in the box, there was no whistle and no VAR intervention from the studio in Cologne (30'). The rest of the first half was controlled by a dominant Werkself who were in no danger at all. The lead at the half-time break was clearly deserved even though Arminia were very solid at the back.

Hradecky slip-up for equaliser

There was one change at half-time for the visitors: Mitchell Weiser came on in place of Lars Bender for his first appearance of the season. With only a minute gone, Sven Bender was left lying on the deck after a challenge with Fabian Klos and he had to have treatment on his left ankle. Before the Werkself defender went off injured, it was suddenly 1-1 out of the blue. With a back pass from Sinkgraven, keeper Hradecky failed to connect with the ball and it rolled into the net – a very disappointing equaliser (47'). Sven Bender was replaced by Dragovic on 50 minutes.

Bailey set up Lucas Alario but his shot hit the side netting (50'). Bayer 04 were determined to quickly get back on track but the two changes in defence with the replacement of the Bender twins and the completely unnecessary equaliser had their effect. Peter Bosz reacted by bringing on Patrik Schick in place of Alario who was ineffective after the rigours of travelling back from international duty (68'). Then the Bayer 04 coach completed his substitutions: Kerem Demirbay and Karim Bellarabi replaced Amiri and Diaby (79').

Dragovic remains alert

The Werkself remained dominant but rarely had a decent opening behind the opposition defence. In the closing stages, Bielefeld restricted themselves to playing on the break. And then it came very close to Bayer 04 regaining the lead with both Julian Baumgartlinger and Schick just failing to connect with a cross from Demirbay (86'). Bielefeld were now on the ropes and Bayer 04 reaped the reward: Ortega managed to save shot from Weiser after a knockdown from Tah but the carefully aimed follow-up shot from the alert Aleksandar Dragovic ended up in the back of the net to make it 2-1 for the Werkself (88'). Shortly after that came the final whistle – and the team had presented Peter Bosz with the best possible sporting gift on his birthday.

Bayer 04 are back in action on Thursday 26 November with the fourth group match in the Europa League. The kick-off against Hapoel Be'er Sheva at the BayArena is at 21.00 CET. That is followed by the next game the Bundesliga on Sunday 29 November with a home game against Hertha Berlin kicking off at 15.30 CET.

Match stats:

Arminia Bielefeld: Ortega – Brunner, Pieper, van der Hoorn, Lucoqui – Prietl – Doan, Seufert (Kunze 79'), Hartel (Voglsammer 89’), Yabo (Soukou 79’) – Klos (Schipplock 63’)

Bayer 04: Hradecky – L. Bender (Weiser 46’), S. Bender (50. Dragovic), Tah, Sinkgraven – Wirtz, Baumgartlinger, Amiri (Demirbay 79’) – Bailey, Alario (Schick 68’), Diaby (Bellarabi 79’)

Goals: 0-1 Bailey (27’), 1-1 Hradecky (o.g 47’), 1-2 Dragovic (88’)

Referee: Dr. Felix Brych (Munich)

Booked: Dragovic