Head coach Xabi Alonso made five changes to his starting line-up after the goalless draw against Borussia Mönchengladbach.Captain Lukas Hradecky returned in goal in place of Matej Kovar. Jonathan Tah came back into the defence after suspension, Robert Andrich played alongside Granit Xhaka in holding midfield. And Tella came in for Jeremie Frimponng on the wing, with Adam Hlozek and new signing Iglesias starting up front in place of Patrik Schick and Jonas Hofmann. The hosts initially had the upper hand in Darmstadt, with Gerrit Holtmann trying a long range effort after just 18 seconds. The best chance for the Werkself came after the opening 15 minutes that was dominated by tough challenges. Alejandro Grimaldo put the ball through to the unmarked Hlozek in the penalty area but his effort went past the right upright. The Lilies came again on 24 minutes as Luca Pfeiffer tested Hradecky from 12 yards out.
The hosts were committed and competitive, which caused the Black and Reds problems at times. The Werkself initially struggled against the aggressive Lilies and, in spite of dominating possession, they rarely posed a danger in the final third. But an attack down the left on 33 minutes produced the lead for the Werkself as Grimaldo hit an accurate cross to the far post where Tella headed the ball into the net to make it 1-0. At the other end, Darmstadt's Matej Maglica headed goalwards from a corner but Hradecky made the save. Andrich almost scored the next goal on 42 minutes but he was denied by Darmstadt keeper Marcel Schuhen. And it was the same again just before the end of the first 45 when Florian Wirtz hit a shot at goal from 14 yard out as Leverkusen took a narrow lead into half-time.
There were no changes at the break for either side and the Werkself soon doubled their advantage. Xhaka passed to Wirtz in midfield to launch an attack and the Leverkusen No.10 put the ball through to Tella in the box who fired it into the roof of the net to double the lead.
The visitors dominated proceedings from that point and moved the ball around while denying Darmstadt the chance to launch attacks. Wirtz almost benefited from an error in the opposition defence on 76 minutes but his shot hit the woodwork. There were lots of substitutions, including Hofmann, Edmond Tapsoba - back from AFCON duty - and Noah Mbamba, and other interruptions to play disrupted the flow of the game towards the end of the match. Iglesias just missed out on a third goal in added time. The Werkself remained alert to the end to secure all three points in Darmstadt and remain two points clear at the Bundesliga summit.
Bayer 04 are back in action in three days time. The BayArena is the stage for the DFB-Pokal quarter-final tie against VfB Stuttgart on Tuesday 6 February (kick-off: 20:45 CET). That is followed by the top game on Bundesliga Matchday 21 against Bayern Munich. The BayArena is again the venue on Saturday 10 February at 18:30.
Match stats:
Darmstadt: Schuhen - Bader, Zimmermann, Maglica (Klarer 81’) - Holtmann (Polter 66’), Franjic (Müller 81’), Holland (Mehlem 67’), Karic - Vilhelmsson (Torsiello 67’), Pfeiffer, Skarke
Bayer 04: Hradecky - Stanisic, Tah, Hincapie - Tella, Xhaka (Tapsoba 88’), Andrich, Grimaldo - Hlozek (Mbamba 90+3’), Wirtz (Hofmann 77’) - Iglesias
Goals: 1-0 Tella (33'), 2-0 Tella (52')
Yellow cards: Andrich, Hlozek - Zimmermann, Franjic
Referee: Tobias Reichel (Sindelfingen)
Attendance: 17,810 (sold out) at the Merck-Stadion am Böllenfalltor
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