Late leveller in 1-1 draw maintains unbeaten run

Compared with the 1-1 draw at West Ham United in the Europa League on Thursday, head coach Xabi Alonso made five changes for the game at Borussia Dortmund: Lukas Hradecky replaced Matej Kovar in goal with Edmond Tapsoba, Robert Andrich, Jeremie Frimpong  and Jonas Hofmann also in the starting line-up in place of Odilon Kossouno, Exequiel Palacios, Florian Wirtz and Patrik Schick.

Werkself control game with few chnaces

With the support of 8,000 travelling Leverkusen fans, the Werkself pressed the opposition from the kick-off and were rewarded with numerous successful challenges and the majority of possession. As in London, Frimpong again impressed and he put in an early effort from a tight angle (2') and a header five minutes later. The team under head coach Edin Terzic almost exclusively relied on counter-attacks. But Bayer 04 controlled proceedings as the game progressed and endeavoured to exploit gaps in the Dortmund defence with patient build-up play.

And that happened for the first time on the half-hour mark. Frimpong was fouled on the edge of the box by Emre Can and it went to VAR. However, the challenge was outside the penalty area with referee Daniel Siebert not awarding a penalty (30’). Dortmund had a good chance just before the break with the dangerous shot from Marcel Sabitzer from the right but Hradecky produced an excellent save (43'). Despite the Black and Reds having the edge, the two sides went into half-time with the score at 0-0.

Füllkrug scores, Stanisic levels

After the restart, the Werkself mainly relied on long balls to the wingers. Three minutes into the second half, Frimpong raced forward but his square pass failed to find Hofmann (48'). Leverkusen again and again succeeded in winning possession but were unable to successfully complete attacks as the final ball or a target man in the penalty area were missing. There were no decent chances for 20 minutes in the second 45. With 69 minutes on the clock, Granit Xhaka played a brilliant diagonal ball across the pitch for Nathan Tella to shoot from a yard out but the BVB keeper Gregor Kobel saved on the line. The up to then unimpressive Dortmund side were more efficient in the closing stages: A cross from the right to the far post was met by Niclas Füllkrug. The striker opened the scoring with a volley (82').

Bayer 04 once again produced a late comeback with Frimpong and Co. scoring in added time: Wirtz hit a corner on from the left to the near post where Stanisic headed the ball into the bottom right corner to level the scores at 1-1.

outlook: Top match at the BayArena

The next outing for the Werkself is the top match on Bundesliga matchday 31: Bayer 04 entertain third-placed VfB Stuttgart at the BayArena on Saturday 27 April with the kick off at 18.30 CEST. 

Match stats

Borussia Dortmund: Kobel – Ryerson, Hummels, Schlotterbeck, Maatsen (Wolf 46') – Can (Nmecha 70') – Sabitzer, Brandt (Özcan 84’) – Sancho (Reus 70’), Füllkrug, Bynoe-Gittens (Duranville 83’)

Bayer 04: Hradecky – Tapsoba, Tah, Hincapie (Boniface 84') – Frimpong, Stanisic, Xhaka, Andrich, Grimaldo – Tella (Wirtz 70') Hofmann (Schick 84')

Goals: 1-0 Füllkrug (82’), 1-1 Stanisic (90+8’)

Bookings: Maatsen, Can, Füllkrug, Schlotterbeck - Tella, Frimpong, Xhaka

Referee: Daniel Siebert (Berlin)

Attendance: 81,365 (sold out) at the Signal Iduna Park