3-1 against Bochum – Werkself beat battling VfL

Compared with the 4-3 win at VfB Stuttgart, head coach Xabi Alonso made one change to his starting line-up: Victor Boniface - starting alongside Patrik Schick for the first time in the current Bundesliga campaign – came in for Robert Andrich. With significantly more possession and greater passing accuracy, the Werkself quickly took control and the first effort on goal fell to Jeremie Frimpong (9').

brilliant Garcia strike then equaliser

The VfL Bochum defence resisted the mounting pressure from Leverkusen for a long time. It was a long-range shot that finally brought the lead: Aleix Garcia tried his luck from a central position 18 yards out on 20 minutes and he hit an unstoppable shot into the right corner of the net. The lead did not last long however: Lukas Hradecky first parried a shot from Georgios Masouras but the Finn was helpless with the follow-up shot from Felix Passlack that levelled the scores at 1-1 (26'). VfL shut up shop at the back and the Werkself found it difficult to break through despite having two thirds of possession. The two sides went into the half-time break on level terms.

Boniface and Adli score to seal win

There were no changes are neither side at half-time and the first chance in the second half saw the VfL keeper Timo Horn parry a left foot shot from Boniface (46'). Schick also had chances to restore the lead (48', 52'). The Werkself built up pressure during this phase of the game and Alejandro Grimaldo was the next player to try his luck (55'). Then there was the repetition of play during much of the first half: Bayer 04 moved the ball, Bochum closed down space. The opening goal came from a long-range shot but this time the Werkself scored from a set piece: Piero Hincapie squared the ball from a Garcia free kick leaving Boniface with a tap-in – 2-1 (60'). Leverkusen were clever in their play and gave nothing away at the back. Frimpong went close to scoring the third goal (77’) and a shot converted by Boniface three minutes later was ruled out due to an offside decision. The next goal from substitute Amine Adli in the closing stages did count (87') – and that brought a perfect end to the home win.

outlook: dfb Pokal semi-final in Bielefeld

In the last double-fixture week of the season, the Werkself are in the DFB Pokal semi-finals. The kick-off at third division Arminia Bielefeld on Tuesday, 1 April, is at 20:45 CEST. The next game in the Bundesliga is away to FC Heidenheim on Saturday, 5 April.

Match stats:

Bayer 04: Hradecky - Mukiele, Tah, Hincapie - Frimpong (Arthur 88'), Xhaka, Garcia, Grimaldo - Palacios (Andrich 90+3'), Boniface (Buendía 88') - Schick (Adli 71')

Arminia Bielefeld: Horn - Passlack, Oermann, Ordets, Wittek - Bero, Sissoko (de Wit 85'), Krauß, Holtmann (Broschinski 75') - Hofmann (Boadu 75'), Masouras

Goals: 1-0 Garcia (20’), 1-1 Passlack (26’), 2-1 Boniface (60’), 3-1 Adli (87’)

Yellow cards: Adli - Boadu

Referee: Sven Jablonski (Bremen)

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