Five-star Werkself performance in 5-2 win at Dortmund

"Our full focus today was just on the three points and we haven't secured a victory here for a long time. With my goal, I hit the ball with my weaker foot and great conviction," said a visibly delighted Jonathan Tah after the goal fest from his team. "A huge compliment to the team," declared Robert Andrich and he added: "You can't create a goal any better than ours to make it 2-1."

Bayer 04 had to manage without the captain in the big match between the teams in second and third place: Goalkeeper Lukas Hradecky was not available for the clash at BVB after testing positive for Covid-19. Lennart Grill stepped in between the sticks to make his fifth Bundesliga appearance. Head coach Gerardo Seoane made another change from the line-up in the 5-1 win in the last game against FC Augsburg with Kerem Demirbay returning after a one-match ban in place of Amine Adli. While Odilon Kossounou, following his return from the Africa Cup of Nations, and Paulinho , after recovering from a Covid-19 infection, returned to the squad, the Iranian new signing Sardar Azmoun was not included as expected. The Werkself were also missing Julian Baumgartlinger, Exequiel Palacios, Daley Sinkgraven, Edmond Tapsoba and keeper Andrey Lunev.

Jonathan Tah led Bayer 04 out under the eyes of Germany coach Hansi Flick. The match got off to a flying start as both sides looked to put the opposition under pressure with the visitors having the hoped-far beginning to the game: The ball landed at the feet of Patrik Schick on the edge of the box from a misplaced pass by Dan-Axel Zagadou. The BVB goalkeeper Gregor Kobel was able to parry the shot from the Czech Republic international but the ball bounced off Akanji's knee into the back of the net – 1-0 on ten minutes.

lead regained from brilliant counter-attack

The lead did not last long – and the leveller came from another own goal. From a Julian Brandt free kick on the right wing, Jeremie Frimpong deflected the ball past Grill with his head – 1-1 (16'). The next goal came quickly and this time from a wonderful attack by the Werkself. A pass from Mitchel Bakker on the edge of his own box to Moussa Diaby was flicked onto Patrik Schick who put the ball through to Karim Bellarabi on the right and his square ball was coolly slotted past Kobel into the far corner by Florian Wirtz to make it 2-1 (20').

excellent free kick by Andrich 

A deflected shot from Demirbay (23') plus a header from Bellarabi that Kobel held on to (24') also demonstrated Leverkusen's enjoyment of the game. Shortly after that, BVB were lucky that Mahmoud Dahoud brought down Schick just outside the penalty area – a yellow card for the Borussia player (26'). The resulting free kick was efficiently used by the Werkself: Andrich curled the ball over the wall into the net at the near post to make it 3-1 for Bayer 04 (28'). The visitors were clearly on top and gave Dortmund little respite during this phase. Borussia lacked ideas up front with a long-range effort from Jude Bellingham being easily saved by Grill (41').

At the other end, Diaby was unable to get onto a square ball at the end of a fast counter-attack (43'). A shot from Bakker to the near post was turned over the bar by Kobel (44'). The 3-1 lead for the focused Werkself at the half-time break was absolutely deserved.

Tah with great shooting technique

Grill foiled the first chance for Dortmund after the restart when he turned a shot from Brandt round the post (50'). At the other end, Zagadou just managed to tackle Bellarabi (52'). The following corner was not wasted: Demirbay's cross was first cleared but Tah fired a volley with his left foot under the bar from just inside the area to make it 4-1 (53') – an outstanding strike from the revitalised key defender. Grill was tested with an effort from Donyell Malen (57').

Wirtz squandered a decent chance to make it five for Leverkusen on 65 minutes. Gerardo Seoane then brought on Odilon Kossounou in place of Bellarabi (68') and switched to a back three. BVB pressed forward but were unable to break through the alert Leverkusen defence the remainder compact unit. With ten minutes to go, Grill was centre stage for a change when he kept out a shot from substitute Giovanni Reyna (80'). Charles Aránguiz and Lucas Alario replaced Wirtz and Schick (81’). Grill then pulled off a great save to deny Bellingham (83’).

Moussa Diaby scored his ninth goal of the season with an assist from Frimpong to put the Werkself 5-1 up on 87 minutes. That was the 54th goal for Leverkusen this term setting a record on matchday 21 since promotion to the Bundesliga in 1979. The previous best was 46 in 2001/02. Tigges scored a late consolation goal for Borussia at 5-2 (90'). The final whistle soon followed as the jubilant Werkself celebrated an outstanding performance.

Bayer 04 are next in action in the Bundesliga on matchday 22 when VfB Stuttgart visit the BayArena on Saturday 12 February with the kick off at 18.30 CET.

Match stats

Borussia Dortmund: Kobel – Meunier (Wolf 46’), Akanji, Zagadou, Guerreiro – Brandt, Dahoud, Bellingham – Reus (Tigges 84’), Malen (Moukoko 79’), Hazard (Reyna 61’)

Bayer 04: Grill – Frimpong (Fosu-Mensah 89’), Tah, Hincapie, Bakker – Andrich, Demirbay – Bellarabi (Kossounou 68’), Wirtz (Aránguiz 81’), Diaby (Adli 89’) – Schick (Alario 81’)

Goals: 0-1 Akanji (10’ o.g.), 1-1 Frimpong (16’ o.g.), 1-2 Wirtz (20’), 1-3 Andrich (28’), 1-4 Tah (53’), 1-5 Diaby (87’), 2-5 Tigges (90’)

Booked: Dahoud – Bellarabi

Referee: Siebert (Berlin)

Attendance: 10,000 (sold out)