The captain was suitably miffed after the final whistle. "We definitely should have won this game today with the chances we had. But you get punished if you don't put the ball in the back of the net at this level. We put in such a great effort so it's even more disappointing to go home empty-handed," said Lars Bender. And Kevin Volland also found good reason to complain: "We've missed some massive chances as a collective. We're lacking that clinical finishing and a bit of luck. We brought this on ourselves today."
Coach Peter Bosz fielded the same side that won the first two games in the second half of the season against the bogey team from the Kraichgau who have inflicted 2-1 defeats on both Bayern and Borussia Dortmund. In addition to Paulinho (Olympic qualifiers with Brazil U23s) and Charles Aránguiz (torn calf), the Werkself were also missing the winter signing Exequiel Palacios who was serving the last of the three-match ban for a red card in his last appearance for River Plate in Argentina. Central defender Edmond Tapsoba, signed by Bayer 04 on Friday from Vitoria Guimaraes from Portugal, was not in the squad for the trip to Sinsheim.
The first excitement at the PreZero Arena came after just 90 seconds. After Kerem Demirbay lost the ball in midfield, Hoffenheim were quick to break and Munas Dabbur was put through but Lukas Hradecky reacted brilliantly to save with his foot and prevent the TSG striker giving the hosts an early lead on two minutes. Hoffenheim quickly settled into the game and were very effective in winning the ball. However, Bayer 04 proved to be enormously efficient and took the lead with their first chance. A move involving Kai Havertz and Karim Bellarabi ended with the ball going to Moussa Diaby and the Frenchman nutmegged Stefan Posch before slotting it into the Hoffenheim net to make it 1-0 on 11 minutes. It was the second goal of the season for the winger.
Diaby then had the chance to double his tally when he easily beat Kevin Akpoguma on the right flank before shooting with his right foot only for Pentke to save the placed shot heading for the top corner (18'). That could have been 2-0 for the Werkself but instead the next goal came for the opposition. Bayer 04 struggled at this point and were unable to stop an attack down the right that saw Pavel Kaderabek put in a cross, with a slight deflection off Daley Sinkgraven, for Kramaric to turn the ball into the net from close range to level at 1-1 (23'). The Werkself were not put off their stride and Bellarabi hit a shot on the turn from the edge of the box but his effort only hit the outside of the post (28'). A shot from Havertz on the half-hour mark was easily saved by Pentke.
Tah blocked an effort from Kramaric to prevent his team going behind (32'). In response, after some excellent dribbling from Diaby, who also was very impressive in working back, Bellarabi's backheel effort was cleared off the line by Skov, and Pentke saved a well-hit shot on the rebound from Volland (33'). The Hoffenheim keeper also turned a shot to the near post against the way he was facing onto the woodwork (34'). Volland then rounded Pentke to put the ball in the back of an empty net but his strike was ruled out for him being offside from Bellarabi's pass (41'). The Werkself clearly had more shots in the first half but had to settle for a scoreline of 1-1 at half-time.
The second half started in persistent rain with one change for Bayer 04: Leon Bailey replaced Bellarabi. Once again, Hoffenheim made the better start: Christoph Baumgartner dribbled parallel to the edge of the penalty area before hitting a low shot with Hradecky just getting the tips of his fingers to the ball and it slowly rolled past the upright (46'). The Werkself were also quickly back up to speed: Volland failed to connect properly with a Bailey cross (47'). A tricky bouncing shot from Kramaric was turned away by Hradecky (51'). A solo run from Havertz saw the Germany international miss the chance to play the ball to the unmarked Diaby and his shot was blocked by Benjamin Hübner (52')..
There was end-to-end action. Havertz struck a shot at the near post but Pentke was in the right spot to punch the ball away (55'). A cross from Diaby from the right lacked accuracy and was too quick for Volland to connect with (59'). A deft cross from Demirbay found Volland at the far post but the striker was unable to turn the ball towards goal as Hübner's body was in the way (63'). That soon had consequences: A counter-attack and carelessness in the Leverkusen defence saw a cross from Sargis Adamyan end up with Skov who struck the ball with power into the net off the underside of the bar to make it 2-1 for TSG (65').
The Werkself were now under pressure up front. But first, Diaby put Hradecky in trouble with a very optimistic back pass (72'). Peter Bosz reacted by bringing on fresh legs with the introduction of Lucas Alario and Nadiem Amiri in place of Julian Baumgartlinger and Sinkgraven (74'). Bayer 04 then reorganised to a back three. Havertz set up Amiri and his shot was dipping under the bar but Pentke again managed to make the save to tip the ball over – it was incredible the number of chances missed by the Werkself (76').
Hoffenheim played on the break and had the chance to seal the victory but the well-placed Kramaric failed to connect properly and only hit the top of the bar (80'). A lucky escape for the Werkself. Time was now running out for Leverkusen with TSG packing their defence. There was four minutes of added time but the Werkself were unable to create a decent chance. To cap it all, Demirbay was shown a second yellow card in added time after bringing down Kramaric (90+2').
Bayer 04 have a busy week ahead with the DFB Cup Round of 16 tie against VfB Stuttgart at the BayArena on Wednesday 5 February (18.30 CET). The next game in the Bundesliga is the top match on Saturday 8 February against Borussia Dortmund. That match at the BayArena also kicks off at 18.30 CET.
Match stats:
TSG Hoffenheim: Pentke – Posch, Akpoguma, Hübner – Kaderabek, Rudy, Samassekou, Baumgartner (Grillitsch 66') Skov– Kramaric, Dabbur (Adamyan 60'/Bicakcic 83’)
Bayer 04: Hradecky – L. Bender, Tah, S. Bender, Sinkgraven (Alario 74') – Baumgartlinger (Amiri 74’), Demirbay – Bellarabi (Bailey 46'), Havertz, Diaby – Volland
Goals: 0-1 Diaby (11’), 1-1 Kramaric (23’), 2-1 Skov (65’)
Referee: Deniz Aytekin (Oberasbach)
Booked: Baumgartner, Rudy, Pentke – Demirbay, L. Bender
Sent off: Demirbay (90+2’)
Attendance: 24,500
Bayer 04 Leverkusen have extended the contract with Germany U19 international Montrell Culbreath. The attacking midfielder and right winger has penned a deal with the Bundesliga club that runs to 30 June 2030. Culbreath has played for the Werkself as a youth player since 2023. Last December, he scored his first Bundesliga goal for the Leverkusen first team in the Bayer 04 3-1 away win at RB Leipzig.
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