Werkself complete unbeaten Bundesliga season with 2-1 win against Augsburg

Head coach Xabi Alonso made five changes to his team from last week’s 5-0 win in Bochum. Jeremie Frimpong started on the right in place of Josip Stanisic, while Alejandro Grimaldo returned for Arthur on the left. Exequiel Palacios got the nod over Granit Xhaka in central midfield. Jonas Hofmann and Amine Adli came in up front for Nathan Tella and Patrik Schick. Bayer 04 were dominant from the off at a sold-out BayArena, with the first attacks coming down Frimpong’s flank, like when Hofmann sent the Dutchman away, whose ball into the middle found Boniface, but Mads Pedersen got across in time to cover.

Boniface opens, Andrich doubles with heel

The party atmosphere in Leverkusen then went up a notch with the first goal of the game. Augsburg goalkeeper Tomas Koubek was chased down by Adli, who calmly laid the ball off to Boniface to roll into the unguarded net after 12 minutes. The Werkself continued to control proceedings and had their second before the half-hour mark. A Grimaldo corner from the left went deep to Jonathan Tah, who controlled before firing the ball back into the middle, where Andrich was alert and used his feel to flick it into the net as Bayer 04 went into the break 2-0 up.

Chances flowed again after the restart, with Hofmann testing Koubek twice early on. Augsburg had two efforts of their own from a free-kick and shot from Niklas Dorsch as they grew into the game. They did then get a goal back when Kömür found the right corner from outside the box. Alonso reacted by introducing Schick and Florian Wirtz for Adli and Boniface. Schick was immediately played in by Frimpong, but Jeffrey Gouweleeuw cleared the low ball. At the other end, Phillip Tietz missed the chance to level from Arne Maier’s pass.

Flurry of chances as Werkself win again

Leverkusen then pushed again to add a third, but Andrich and substitute Xhaka both failed to convert. Wirtz also had an opportunity when he tried to round Koubek, only for the Augsburg goalkeeper to get a hand on the ball. Lukas Hradecky was forced into a save from Mas Jaume before Wirtz was again denied by Koubek. Piero Hincapie was also thwarted by the Czech goalkeeper in added time, but it didn’t matter as Bayer 04 claimed the victory that saw them become the first team ever to complete a Bundesliga season without a single loss.

After the final whistle, the Werkself were finally presented with the Meisterschale for the first time in the club’s history, with the team completing a lap of honour and parading the trophy to all around the ground.

Finals to come in Dublin and Berlin

This is just the start of this historic week for Bayer 04 as they now have two cup finals, starting in Dublin on Wednesday in the UEFA Europa League against Atalanta. This remarkable season then finally comes to an end three days later as the Werkself travel to Berlin for the DFB Pokal final against Kaiserslautern on Saturday.

Match stats:

Bayer 04: Hradecky - Kossounou, Tah, Tapsoba - Frimpong (Stanisic 83'), Andrich, Palacios (Xhaka 70'), Grimaldo (Hincapie 70') - Hofmann, Boniface (Schick 63'), Adli (Wirtz 63')

Augsburg: Koubek - Pedersen, Gouweleeuw, Uduokhai, Iago - Kömür (Biel 74'), Breithaupt (Engels 41'), Dorsch, Maier - Tietz (Michel 74'), Demirovic (Beljo 90'+1)

Goals: 1-0 Boniface (12'), 2-0 Andrich (25'), 2-1 Kömür (62')

Yellow cards: Uduokhai

Referee: Dr. Matthias Jöllenbeck

Attendance: 30,210 at the BayArena (sold out)