After the final whistle, the joy was written all over Kevin Volland's face. "Of course, we were lucky on several occasions but we played brilliantly, particularly in the first half. Last week against Freiburg we failed to take a lot of chances. Now we’ll head home happy," said the striker. Sven Bender, one of the many giants in this battle, said: "It was extremely difficult for us to maintain the lead under pressure from the opponents. But we fought passionately as we can do that too. We haven't had too much luck this season but it was our turn today."
The Bayer 04 line-up showed three changes to the side that faced Lokomotiv Moscow in the Champions League: Captain Lars Bender replaced Panos Retsos at right back, Julian Baumgartlinger came in for Kerem Demirbay in holding midfield and Nadiem Amiri played up front in place of Karim Bellarabi. Kai Havertz was unable to start but did return to the bench after recovering from a thigh injury. The same applied to the Dutch left back Daley Sinkgraven who returned to the squad after a long-term muscle injury.
The stats reveal that FC Bayern have rediscovered a rich vein of form and regained confidence over recent weeks under Hansi Flick: four games, four wins, 16 goals for and zero against – a run that the FCB chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge described as "increasingly outstanding" following the 6-0 win at Red Star Belgrade in the Champions League this week. Bayer 04 sporting managing director Rudi Völler gave the following assessment ahead of the game: "We want to put on a performance and get a result but to do that we will need to produce a top performance."
The Werkself were on the front foot from the start against the record champions. They were brave, defended high and attacked in and around the opposition penalty area. FC Bayern quickly showed they weren't just any old opposition. A long ball found Serge Gnabry and he broke through for a one-on-one with Lukas Hradecky but his effort to the near post only hit the woodwork (9'). The ensuing counter-attack saw the Bayern run of not conceding under Hansi Flick come to an end: Moussa Diaby won the ball off Alphonso Davies and he picked out Volland who provided a brilliant through ball to Bailey who hit a low shot into the corner of the net from 16 yards out to give Bayer 04 the lead on ten minutes. Manuel Neuer then saved two shots from Diaby (14'/15').
Then came a sensational intervention from Wendell: The Brazilian produced a sliding tackle to deny Thomas Müller the chance of equalising with Hradecky already beaten (18'). Just before that, the Bayer 04 keeper saved from Gnabry with his chest from a tight angle. The next excitement came when Ivan Perisic hit a thunderbolt against the crossbar although the Croat was narrowly offside (22'). At the other end, Diaby went on a solo run and his shot tested Neuer (25').
Bayer 04 succeeded in keeping Joshua Kimmich out of the game as the driving force in the FC Bayern build-up play with Amiri doing the job of closing down the Bayern midfielder and preventing him passing. The Werkself were alert, constantly posed a threat up front and bugged Bayern with their strength in challenges and quick transitions. The Munich side did not appear so dynamic as they did after the half-hour mark when Gnabry, put through by Davies, fired a shot at the Leverkusen goal from 18 yards out (31'). The visitors equalised following a throw-in for Bayer 04: Sven Bender slightly deflected a left-foot shot from Thomas Müller past Hradecky (34’).
The Werkself remained unruffled. Exactly 113 seconds after the equaliser, Leverkusen were back at the other end: From their own half, there was a quick move up front with Volland putting Leon Bailey through with the Jamaican showing his pace against Javi Martinez as he went through to score with his stronger left foot with a shot into the far corner to make it 2-1 (36'). A second equaliser looked certain just before the half-time break with three Bayern players running in on goal. Gnabry squared the ball to Perisic but Lars Bender kept up with play and produced a brilliant sliding tackle – similar to Wendell's – to prevent FC Bayern scoring (45'). The Bayer 04 skipper celebrated his clearance with a clenched fist as if he'd scored.
Bayern had their first chance in the second 45 immediately after the restart: It was lucky for the Werkself that a header from Leon Goretzka went just wide of the target (46’). However, Bayer 04 were quickly back in the game: Diaby beat Davies before playing the ball inside for Amiri to hit a low shot from close range that brought out an excellent save from Neuer (51') – it could have been the third strike for Leverkusen. Bayer 04 did very well to pack the midfield but Bayern showed their quality in creating chances such as a volley from Perisic from close range that flew over the bar (58'). Or with the double chance for Robert Lewandowski and Müller that brought out two sensational saves from Hradecky on the hour mark. Then the double goalscorer Bailey and Wendell had to go off and they were replaced by Bellarabi and Sinkgraven (63'/64').
FC Bayern moved up another gear but Bayer 04 continued to pose a threat and were keen to attack. Diaby, now playing on the left, beat everybody except for Neuer who denied the Frenchman with his foot (66'). Volland was blocked off from a Bellarabi cross (68'), Amiri put the ball in the back of the net but from an offside position (69'). When Neuer went walkabout far outside his box to the touchline, Diaby almost managed to take the ball off him (70').
FC Bayern bought on fresh legs up front in the shape of Kingsley Coman and Philippe Coutinho. But the next chance fell to the visitors when Bellarabi rounded off a promising counter-attack with a shot that went well over the bar (75’). Bayer 04 were then lucky again when a header from Goretzka slammed into the post (77’). Charles Aránguiz then limped off to be replaced by Demirbay (80'). Bayer 04 were then reduced to ten men when referee Guido Winkmann showed Tah the red card for bringing down Coutinho on the edge of the box (81') – a debatable decision at the very least.
With a player less, there was obviously a question about strength and if and how the battling Werkself would be able to stand up to the increasingly fierce FC Bayern attacks. Gnabry decided not to cross and instead cut in at the near post but Hradecky sensed danger and was again on the right spot (89'). Due to various stoppages, there were six minutes of added time. And the hosts hit the woodwork for a third time with a Lewandowski header (90+1'). Hradecky also denied Lewandowski (90+5'). The Werkself rocked but did not crumble. When referee Winkmann blew his whistle to end the game, coach Peter Bosz, Hendrie Krüzen, Xaver Zembrod, Marcel Daum and Simon Rolfes embraced in celebration.
Bayer 04 are next in action in the Bundesliga on matchday 14 with a home game against Schalke 04 on Saturday 7 December. The game at the BayArena kicks off at 18.30 CET.
Match stats:
FC Bayern: Neuer – Pavard, Martinez (Thiago 80'), Alaba, Davies – Kimmich – Gnabry, Müller (Coutinho 69'), Goretzka, Perisic (Coman 69') – Lewandowski
Bayer 04: Hradecky – L. Bender, Tah. S. Bender, Wendell (Sinkgraven 65') – Baumgartlinger, Aránguiz (Demirbay 80') – Diaby, Amiri, Bailey (Bellarabi 63') – Volland
Goals: 0-1 Bailey (10’), 1-1 Müller (34’), 1-2 Bailey (36’)
Referee: Guido Winkmann (Kerken)
Booked: Goretzka – Baumgartlinger, Bellarabi, S. Bender
Sent off: Tah (81’)
Attendance: 75,000
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