Head coach Xabi Alonso made four changes to his team that started Sunday’s 3-0 win over Eintracht Frankfurt. Josip Stanisic and Piero Hincapie replaced Odilon Kossounou and Edmond Tapsoba in defence. Robert Andrich was in for the suspended Exequiel Palacios in midfield, while Schick made his first Bundesliga start in some 14 months as he got the nod over Boniface, who dropped to the bench. In a once again sold-out BayArena, Jeremie Frimpong led the first attack of note in the seventh minute, but his low delivery was gathered by goalkeeper Manuel Riemann. The visitors then had a couple of opportunities of their own through Takuma Asano and Christopher Antwi-Adjei.
The Werkself then struggled to play in their usual dominant manner for a period as Bochum pressed hard. However, Leverkusen finally found a gap in the visitors’ rearguard just before the half-hour mark as Schick was played in behind, knocked the ball beyond Riemann before being taken down. Referee Daniel Schlager pointed to the spot, with Schick himself dispatching the penalty for the lead. The next attack moments later also came off as Jonas Hofmann and Frimpong worked their way down the right. The Dutchman passed the ball into the middle and into the path of Schick, whose first-time finish doubled the advantage with 31 minutes gone. Alonso’s men seemed to find their groove now, with Frimpong and Alejandro Grimaldo both having further chances. Yet it was Schick who struck again in added time, heading in a Grimaldo corner under pressure to bag his hat-trick inside the first half.
With the Werkself three goals to the good coming out after the break, things were initially quiet until the 62nd minute when Grimaldo played the ball back from the by-line for Andrich to turn in. However, a VAR review ruled out the goal due to offside in the build-up. A fourth did come soon after, though, as Florian Wirtz’s vision found Boniface, who had only been on the field for a couple of minutes, to put away his 10th goal of the season with 69 minutes gone. Leverkusen didn’t look done there as Tapsoba and Frimpong looked to add another, but Riemann denied both. The damage was already done, however, as Bayer 04 extended their unbeaten start to 2023/24 to a German record 25 games and go into the winter break with a four-point advantage over Bayern Munich.
And straight after the game, the team joined the fans inside the BayArena for some Christmas singing to round off an eventful year in Leverkusen.
The Werkself are now off on their well-deserved holidays before returning to training on Wednesday, 3 January. The first match of the year is then the following Sunday with a friendly against Italian Serie B side Venezia at the BayArena. Tickets are available for the game HERE.
Match stats:
Bayer 04: Hradecky – Stanisic, Tah (Tapsoba 67'), Hincapie (Puerta 73') – Frimpong, Xhaka, Andrich, Grimaldo – Hofmann (Hlozek 73'), Schick (Boniface 67'), Wirtz (Amiri 87')
Bochum: Riemann – Gamboa, Masovic (Loosli 69'), Schlotterbeck, Bernardo – Losilla (Oermann 87'), Osterhage, Bero – Asano (Soares 46'), Paciencia (Förster 63'), Antwi-Adjei (Broschinski 63')
Goals: 1-0 Schick (pen, 30'), 2-0 Schick (31'), 3-0 Schick (45'+1), 4-0 Boniface (69')
Referee: Daniel Schlager (Hügelsheim)
Yellow cards: Masovic, Schlotterbeck
Attendance: 30,210 (sold out) at the BayArena
Bayer 04 entertain third-placed VfB Stuttgart in the penultimate Bundesliga home game. The match at the BayArena is today Saturday 27 April (kick-off: 18.30 CEST/live on Sky and on Werkself Radio). The latest information on the game, with fans again asked to follow traffic information, is here in the news in brief.
Show moreAfter three consecutive weeks of playing midweek, the Werkself have been preparing for the top-of-the-table clash against VfB Stuttgart over the past few days. Ahead of the home game on Saturday 27 April (kick-off 18:30 CEST, live on Sky), head coach Xabi Alonso praised the third-placed visitors and gave an update on the state of the pitch as well as personnel.
Show moreThere's no question: VfB Stuttgart are one of the biggest surprises of this season and have delighted their fans with exciting, successful attacking football. After suffering a rare defeat at Bremen last weekend, third-placed VfB are looking to get back to winning ways in this Saturday's big match against the Werkself (kick-off 18:30 CEST). The visitors will be without their playmaker in midfield, though. A look at our next opponents...
Show moreWhether at school, in grassroots sports or at the football stadium – racism and discrimination of all kinds are still prevalent in our society. For this reason, Bayer 04 has been organising preventative school workshops on the subject of racism for many years. This week, one of these workshops took place at the Lise-Meitner-Gymnasium not far from the BayArena as part of the Wiesdorf district matchday - and with a prominent guest: Werkself star Jonathan Tah worked intensively with the pupils on the topic. The German champion and international also spoke about his personal experiences with racism.
Show moreBayer 04 aren’t just the new champions of Germany but are also leading the way in engaging young fans after becoming the first Bundesliga club to release its own Pixi children’s book. Captain Lukas Hradecky and Josip Stanisic presented the 24-page publication entitled ‘Ein neuer Löwe für die Werkself’ (A new lion for the Werkself) at a reading for children in the BayArena's Schwadbud.
Show more