Volland nets winner at Eintracht Frankfurt

There was unbridled joy for Leverkusen with an eighth Bundesliga game in succession without defeat as they move up the table step-by-step. "Everything went right for us today. We could have been a couple of goals ahead in the first half," said goalkeeper Bernd Leno who was rarely called into action to keep out Frankfurt attack. Scorer of the winning goal, Kevin Volland said: "We've won an extremely tough and significant match. It  was  good we were able to break through and score the winner after the break. I hit my shot really well."

Heiko Herrlich was forced to make a number of changes at Frankfurt. In addition to the suspended Wendell and Benjamin Henrichs plus the not yet fully recovered Sven Bender, the Werkself had to replace Leon Bailey late on. The Jamaican, who has been in outstanding form over recent weeks, was ruled out with a fever.  He was replaced in the starting eleven by Lucas Alario as the central striker with Bailey's position on the left taken by Admir Mehmedi. Stefan Kießling made a return to the Black and Red squad after a long absence. 

In front of a 50,000 crowd at a not quite sold-out Commerzbank Arena –including Dragoslav Stepanovic, who won the DFB Cup with Bayer 04 in 1993 and coached both Leverkusen and Eintracht – the match got off to a lively start. Frankfurt showed aggression and challenged early as the Werkself endeavoured to gain the upper hand with accurate passing and calm on the ball. The first sign of danger from the visitors came after 15 minutes with a break down the right saw Julian Brandt put in a cross but Alario was unable to connect. Mehmedi went close on 21 minutes when he volleyed a cross from Kai Havertz just wide of the target. Frankfurt were very physical and alert but there was little threat from the team from Hessen in the opening half hour.

double bad luck for Alario

Leverkusen were out of luck on the half-hour mark when Alario headed a Brandt free kick against the inside of the post – the Argentinian had a good game up front and won a lot of possession in close challenges. Two minutes later, Brandt put a shot six inches wide of the upright from a promising position. And just 40 seconds later, Alario again hit the post after an excellent move involving Lars Bender and Dominik Kohr  –  this time it was the right-hand post (32'). A left-foot shot from Volland then landed in the arms  of keeper Lukas Hradecky (37') who then also saved a  right-foot shot from Volland. Bayer 04 were clearly in control and deserved to be ahead. "Leverkusen dominated the game after 15 minutes and had the brighter ideas in  the final third. Eintracht were lucky the score was still 0-0," said Stepanovic on Sky during the half-time break.

Leno was called into action for the first time after the restart when he saved a volley from Ante Rebic on 49 minutes. There  was also a dangerous move two minutes later that posed a threat in the Bayer 04 penalty area. Shortly after that, the already booked Rebic caught Lars Bender in the face with his elbow in a challenge on 55 minutes – the Bayer 04 captain had to go off but was able to  return to the action after lengthy treatment. Leno passed his second test shortly after that keeping out a volley from Rebic on the hour mark.

Volland finds  the back of the net

Frankfurt were back in the game at this point and they upped the pressure, which the Werkself stood up to as a team, although they were unable to make much headway up front. Herrlich brought on Karim Bellarabi for Alario on 66 minutes and he immediately set up Havertz but his shot was too weak  to pose a problem for Hradecky. It was now a make or break encounter. Jonathan Tah produced a dominant performance at the back for Bayer 04 winning every challenge. Panos Retsos and Lars Bender were not far behind. And then, the 1,300 travelling fans were finally able to celebrate with the Werkself: A move involving Havertz and a cross from the left by Mehmedi ended with Volland chesting the ball down and then rifling his shot into the back of the net at the near post – with the Germany international netting his eighth goal of the season to give Bayer 04 the lead on 76 minutes.

A battling Werkself were able to hold on to the lead to take all three points – Herrlich brought on André Ramalho and Stefan Kießling in the closing stages of the match. For 'Kies', embraced by a delighted Bayer 04 coach after the final whistle, it was match number 398 in the Bundesliga. Kohr picked up a fifth yellow card and is now ruled out of the game against Borussia Dortmund on Saturday 2 December. The match at the BayArena kicks off at 15.30 CET.

Match stats:

Eintracht Frankfurt: Hradecky – Salcedo (Hrgota 87'), Abraham, Falette – Wolf, K.-P. Boateng, Willems – Gacinovic, Stendera (Kamada 68') – Haller, Rebic

Bayer 04: Leno – L. Bender, Tah, Retsos – Havertz, Kohr, Aránguiz, Mehmedi – Brandt (Ramalho 85'), Alario (Bellarabi 66'), Volland (Kießling 90')

Goals: 0-1 Volland (76')

Referee: Ittrich (Hamburg)

Booked: Abraham, Rebic, Falette, Salcedo – Alario, Mehmedi, Kohr (fifth yellow card)

Attendance: 50,000