Werkself beat Augsburg 2-0 in penultimate home game

Xabi Alonso made five changes to the team that started last week’s 1-1 draw at St. Pauli, including Matej Kovar in goal. Augsburg had lost only one of their last 14 Bundesliga games but were unable to get to grips with Leverkusen’s fluid movement and passing.

Schick and Buendia strike

The reigning champions got their reward after just 14 minutes when Granit Xhaka, Florian Wirtz and Nathan Tella combined before setting up Schick, who fired the ball – via a slight deflection – under the crossbar for his 19th goal of the campaign. The ball was in the Augsburg net again 10 minutes later when Tella headed in a Wirtz cross, but it was ruled out for offside. The Werkself kept playing their game but lacked the final ball in their search for a second. That finally came in the first minute of added time when Buendia came inside from the left and picked out the far bottom corner with a curling effort.

Werkself see it out

The hosts kept up the pressure after the restart and had the first effort of the second half through Wirtz. Augsburg’s best chance fell to Samuel Essende, who failed to hit the target from a tight angle. Further opportunities came and went for Alexis Claude-Maurice and Phillip Tietz without really testing Kovar. At the other end, substitute Jonas Hofmann had a crack and Amine Adli had a headed effort off the bench as well as the game ended with three deserved points for Leverkusen.

To Freiburg then Dortmund at home

Bayer 04’s next game takes them to Freiburg a week on Sunday at 5.30pm CEST. The final home fixture of the season is then against Borussia Dortmund the following Sunday at 3.30pm. The curtain comes down on the campaign in Mainz the Saturday after that.

Match stats:

Bayer 04: Kovar - Arthur (Frimpong 86'), Tah, Tapsoba - Tella (Hincapie 63'), Andrich, Xhaka, Grimaldo - Wirtz (Garcia 82'), Buendía (Hofmann 63') - Schick (Adli 63')

Augsburg: Dahmen - Matsima, Gouweleeuw, Zesiger - Wolf (Koudossou 55'), Jakic, Onyeka, Giannoulis (Gumny 55') - Rexhbecaj (Kömür 55'), Claude-Maurice (Jensen 81') - Essende (Tietz 71')

Goals: 1-0 Schick (14'), 2-0 Buendia (45'+1)

Yellow cards: Zesiger

Referee: Christian Dingert

Attendance: 29,563 at the BayArena