Head coach Kasper Hjulmand made three changes to the team that started Wednesday’s DFB Pokal game at Paderborn, as Jarell Quansah came into the back three, with Jeanuel Belocian moving out wide in place of Alejandro Grimaldo, who was on the bench. Ernest Poku and Claudio Echeverri started up front instead of Jonas Hofmann and Eliesse Ben Seghir.
Leverkusen sat back looking to be compact in the opening stages and to counter. Echeverri had two opportunities to do just that in the first minutes, but the first shot of the game came from Lennart Karl in the eighth minute. Chances were limited after that as both teams sized each other up. The Werkself’s best opportunity also fell for Echeverri when running in behind, but he was shadowed by former Leverkusen man Jonathan Tah to win back the ball inside the penalty area. Bayern eventually took the lead when Tom Bischof’s through ball found Gnabry on the left to finish past Mark Flekken. The hosts had a second after the half-hour mark when Jackson headed in from a cross.
By this stage, the league leaders had taken control of proceedings and managed to force a third before half-time when Badé inadvertently turned in a Raphaël Guerreiro cross from the left.
Hjulmand introduced Ibrahim Maza for Aleix García at half-time before also sending on Hofmann, Martin Terrier and Christian Kofane for fresh impetus up front. There were far fewer chances in the second period as Leverkusen appeared more solid, but they did have a couple of half opportunities through substitutes Terrier and Kofane. However, none were able to trouble Manuel Neuer in the Bayern goal as the score remained 3-0 at the Allianz Arena and Bayer 04’s record run of 37 Bundesliga away games without defeat was brought to an end.
The Werkself’s next game takes them to Lisbon to face Benfica in the UEFA Champions League on Wednesday (21:00 CET). The following Saturday Heidenheim come to the BayArena in the Bundesliga (15:30 CET).
Match stats:
Bayer 04: Flekken - Quansah, Badé, Tapsoba - Arthur, Andrich, Garcia (Maza 46'), Belocian (Ben Seghir 85') - Poku (Terrier 56'), Echeverri (Hofmann 56') - Schick (Kofane 56')
Bayern: Neuer - Laimer (Boey 74') Kim, Tah, Bischof - Kimmich, Goretzka - Karl (Olise 59'), Guerreiro (Pavlovic 79'), Gnabry (Diaz 59') - Jackson (Kane 59')
Goals: 1-0 Gnabry (25'), 2-0 Jackson (31'), 3-0 Badé (44', og.)
Yellow cards: Goretzka - Maza
Referee: Deniz Aytekin
Attendance: 75,000 (sold out) at the Allianz Arena
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