Clinical Werkself keep Eintracht Frankfurt at bay with 3-1 win

Head coach Kasper Hjulmand made four changes to the starting eleven for the game against Eintracht compared to the 3-0 Champions League win against Villarreal. Edmond Tapsoba returned to the starting line-up in place of Loïc Badé, who was suspended. Arthur, Martin Terrier and Christian Kofane replaced Lucas Vázquez, Ibrahim Maza and Patrik Schick, who did not make the trip due to injury. The Black and Reds - playing in cyan on the day - took control in the opening minutes with a confident passing game and put Eintracht under pressure several times with their high pressing.

Arthur and Tillman secure half-time lead

The first noteworthy effort on goal came on 17 minutes with a long-range shot from Jarell Quansah. And the second chance followed: Arthur, active on the right flank, combined with Alejandro Grimaldo breaking into the Frankfurt penalty area to score his first Bundesliga goal and give the Werkself the lead (26’). In his 50th game in Germany’s top flight, the as yet untroubled Janis Blaswich was tested for the first time by Rasmus Kristensen (32') - before Leverkusen struck again. Kofane laid on a deflected Grimaldo cross to Malik Tillman and the USA international scored for the third time in two games (33'). A disciplined defensive performance from the Black and Reds kept the score at 2-0 until the break.

 Werkself a man up – Garcia seals win

Shortly after the restart, Blaswich then had to pick the ball out of the back of the net for the first time in his third Bundesliga appearance for the Black and Reds. Robin Koch converted a cross at the second attempt to put Frankfurt back in the game (50'). The reply from the Werkself was not long in coming but Ezequiel Fernández mishit his shot from the edge of the box (56'). Bayer 04 now fought bravely against a fired-up Eagles side and were a man up on 70 minutes. Eintracht player Ellyes Skhiri - just moments after a bad foul on Arthur - brought down Kofane in midfield and was shown a second yellow card.

With the extra player, Leverkusen were now more dominant again, but failed to finish off any of the many promising counter-attacks. As a result, the alert Blaswich once again called into action to maintain the lead on 87 minutes. In the third minute of stoppage time, the busy Aleix Garcia, who was set up on the left by substitute Ernest Poku, netted to make it 3-1, securing the win to the relief of the Werkself fans.

coming up: Floodlit home game in DFB Pokal

The Werkself continue their campaign in 2026 on Tuesday, 3 February (kick-off: 20:45 CET). The BayArena will welcome FC St. Pauli in the quarter-finals of the DFB Pokal. In the Bundesliga, Leverkusen face Borussia Mönchengladbach the following Saturday, 7 February, with the kick-off at 18:30 CET.

Match stats:

Eintracht Frankfurt: Kaua Santos - Amenda, Koch, Theate - Kristensen, Skhiri, Larsson (Hojlund 57’), Brown (Bahoya 84’) - Doan (Amaimouni-Echghouyab 69’), Götze (Knauff 69’) - Kalimuendo

Bayer 04: Blaswich - Quansah, Andrich, Tapsoba - Arthur, Fernández (Palacios 64’), Garcia, Grimaldo - Tillman (Poku 82’), Terrier (Hofmann 64’) - Kofane (Schick 72’)

Goals: 0-1 Arthur (26’), 0-2 Tillman (33’), 1-2 Koch (50’), 1-3 Garcia (90+3’)

Yellow cards: Kristensen - Grimaldo

Red Card: Skhiri

Referee: Robert Schröder (Hanover)

Attendance: 59,000 at Deutsche Bank Park