Simon Rolfes was suitably relieved after an incredible end to the match. "It was a long and tough battle. The ball was in the air a lot and we had little control of the game. Union scored two wonder goals. But the team showed the right reaction and quick passes led to the two crucial goals. There aren't always great wins like last week and sometimes you just have to win as best you can," said the sporting director.
Peter Bosz made three changes to the side that beat Dortmund and started with the line-up that finished against BVB. The back three were unchanged, Mitchell Weiser and Wendell replaced Karim Bellarabi the ailing Daley Sinkgraven. Leon Bailey played on the left wing in place of Moussa Diaby. Lars Bender and Nadiem Amiri again played alongside each other in holding midfield. After recovering from a calf muscle injury, Charles Aránguiz returned to the squad for the first time this year and Exequiel Palacios was in the squad for the first time in the Bundesliga. Julian Baumgartlinger and Paulinho were also absent.
The Werkself had a clear target for the clash with Union: To add another three points following the win against Borussia Dortmund. Everybody in the Black and Red camp were well aware that would not be an easy mission given that the more than capable newcomers have won five of the last six home games without conceding and have already beaten Dortmund (3-1) and Borussia Mönchengladbach (2-0). The travelling Bayer 04 fans were in high spirits in the away section at the atmospheric An der Alten Försterei Stadium with all of the 2,500 allocation for the Werkself supporters taken up.
The match got off to a flying start. Union had the first clear-cut chance of the game: Sebastian Andersson just failed to put his team ahead with a diagonal shot to the far corner of the Werkself net (3'). Lukas Hradecky then easily dealt with a header from Marvin Friedrich (6'). However, shortly after that, the Finland international in the Werkself goal was completely helpless: An attack down the left flank ended with a cross from Marius Bülter and Yunus Malli was able to set up Christian Gentner to fire the ball into the roof of the net to give the Berlin team the lead (7'). The combative hosts were first out of the blocks and Bayer 04 initially struggled to free themselves and get on the front foot.
As in the game against Borussia Dortmund, the Werkself again demonstrated enormous efficiency: Jonathan Tah hit a long ball into the opposition half and Lars Bender brilliantly headed the ball into the path of Kai Havertz who, under pressure from Neven Subotic, stretched and lobbed it over Rafal Gikiewicz into the back of the net to make it 1-1 (22'). The first chance, the first goal and they all count. The team from the capital remained assertive and dangerous with Hradecky saving a shot from Andersson on the half-hour mark. A Kevin Volland header from a Havertz cross a minute later went high over the bar. Leverkusen were astonished that Subotic was not shown a yellow card for a tactical foul on Havertz in what looked like a promising attack (33'). Sven Bender was booked five minutes later in a rather surprising decision by referee Harm Osmers. For the last chance of the first half, Andersson had a shot at the near post from a cross from the right flank but he failed to connect properly (45'). The two sides went in level at 1-1 at the break in an intense but increasingly disjointed encounter.
The second half began with two changes for the Werkself: Moussa Diaby and Charles Aránguiz replaced Leon Bailey and Mitchell Weiser with the skipper Lars Bender moving to right back. Sven Bender moved into defensive midfield as Bayer 04 now played in a 4-2-3-1 formation. The Berliners were in attacking mood immediately and had a chance but Wendell was able to disturb Malli and turn the ball away for a corner (46'). The game then had to be suspended due to flares being let off in the Leverkusen section of the ground.
It remained a hard-fought encounter with Bayer 04 having more control of the game than in the whole of the first 45 minutes. It was disappointing that Diaby was unable to control the ball in a counter-attack from a good pass by Havertz (61'). As more flares were set off in the Bayer 04 block and the intervention of Lars Bender and the fence did not have any effect, Osmers again suspended play for several minutes and sent both teams to the side of the pitch (65'). That had a particularly negative effect on the flow of play for the Werkself and Union regained the initiative. During this phase, Edmond Tapsoba was particularly impressive with his ability to calmly win the ball.
A shot from Robert Andrich flashed wide of the goal (75') in the first chance for quite a while. Bosz made his third substitution bringing on Karim Bellarabi in place of Amiri. Union Berlin continued to challenge hard and they succeeded in making life difficult for Leverkusen. But then came the second example of utmost efficiency of the afternoon for the Black and Reds. A successful attack involving Aránguiz and Volland saw the striker put a brilliant ball through to Diaby and the Frenchman slotted his shot past Gikiewicz to make it 2-1 (83').
The decider? No way! A long clearance by Gikiewicz ended up with Bülter and he left Hradecky stranded with a curler into the top corner to level the scores at 2-2 (87'). Both sides gave their all in search of the winner. Havertz, who was now really turning it on, put Bellarabi through but Gikiewicz was able to make the save to keep Union in the game (88'). Due to the interruptions, there were seven minutes of added time. The Berliners now looked dead on their feet and a Bellarabi pass across the six-yard box saw Volland just fail to connect (90+3'). Then came the decider: After a one-two with Aránguiz, Bellarabi danced through the Berlin defence and hit the ball into the back of the net from a tight angle at the near post to make it 3-2 (90+4').
Incredibly, the Werkself turned a game around again in the final minutes. Gikiewicz came up for Union’s last corner and he was able to get in a shot from six yards out but Hradecky dived to make the save (90+7') – then came the eagerly awaited full time whistle.
Bayer 04 now have a busy week with two home games over carnival. Werkself play FC Porto in the first leg of the Round of 32 in the Europa League on Thursday 20 February (kick-off: 21.00 CET). The next match in the Bundesliga is on Sunday 23 February at 15.30 CET when FC Augsburg visit the BayArena.
Match stats:
FC Union Berlin: Gikiewicz – Friedrich, Schlotterbeck, Subotic (Polter 85’) – Trimmel, Gentner (Prömel 75’), Andrich, Lenz – Malli (Ingvartsen 75’), Bülter – Andersson
Bayer 04: Hradecky – Tah, S. Bender, Tapsoba – Weiser (Aránguiz 46’), L. Bender, Amiri (Bellarabi 75’), Wendell – Havertz, Volland, Bailey (Diaby 46’)
Goals: 1-0 Gentner (7’), 1-1 Havertz (22’), 1-2 Diaby (83’), 2-2 Bülter (87’), 2-3 Bellarabi (90+4’)
Referee: Harm Osmers (Hannover)
Booked: Trimmel, Gentner – Weiser, S. Bender
Attendance: 22,012
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