12.05.2024Bundesliga

Werkself end season unbeaten away from home after 5-0 win in Bochum

Bayer 04 are still unbeaten in 2023/24 after a 5-0 win away at Bochum on Matchday 33 in the Bundesliga. Despite a bold start by the hosts, they were reduced to 10 men after a red card for Felix Passlack, before Patrik Schick and Victor Boniface set the Werkself on course for victory with first-half goals. Amine Adli, Josip Stanisic and Alejandro Grimaldo then added the gloss late on to ensure Leverkusen end this campaign without a single loss on the road.

Head coach Xabi Alonso made eight changes to his team from the one that started Thursday’s UEFA Europa League semi-final success at home to Roma. Only Edmond Tapsoba, Jonathan Tah and Granit Xhaka retained their places and were initially faced by a Bochum side who had come to play in their push to guarantee top-flight survival. The hosts enjoyed the first forays forward, but that soon ended when Passlack took down Nathan Tella as last man just before the penalty area and was shown red with only 15 minutes played.

Schick and Boniface net after red card

The Werkself’s numerical superiority soon became apparent as they started to dominate the play in a controlled and calm manner. Alonso’s men pressed the hosts further back into their own half and Leverkusen chances began to flow. Schick had a header from an Arthur cross on 23 minutes before Xhaka struck the crossbar with a curling left-footed effort from right of centre. A goal finally came four minutes before the break when Arthur’s lower cross this time was swept home by the left foot of Schick from 12 yards out. A second quickly followed when Keven Schlotterbeck took down Tella in the area and referee Benjamin Brand pointed to the spot. Boniface stepped up to coolly slot down the middle and make it 2-0 for half-time.

Bayer 04 remained the dominant side after the restart and had the first chance of the half through Schick as he fired just wide from a tight angle after pouncing on a loose ball between goalkeeper Manuel Riemann and substitute Erhan Masovic. Boniface struck the post with one of his trademark powerful shots on the hour mark. At the other end, Kevin Stöger hit an effort wide of captain Lukas Hradecky’s net.

Substitutes add gloss

Alonso started to freshen things up as the game went on, introducing Jonas Hofmann for Odilon Kossounou, as well as Amine Adli and Borja Iglesias for the front two of Schick and Boniface. It was another golden touch from the Spanish coach – as so often seen this season – as two of the new men combined when Adli powered home a header from Hofmann’s corner to make it 3-0 with 76 minutes gone.

The scoring wasn’t over there as Stanisic picked out the near bottom corner with a shot from right of centre four minutes from time. Another substitute made it a round five three minutes beyond the 90 when Grimaldo put away Stanisic’s square ball as the Werkself made it 50 straight games unbeaten in all competitions at the ground where they last tasted defeat on the final day of last season.

Final league game against Augsburg

After another busy period with games every few days, Leverkusen now have a week to prepare for their last Bundesliga game of the season as Augsburg come to the BayArena next Saturday (3.30pm CEST), when the Meisterschale will be presented to the new champions.

Match stats:

Bochum: Riemann - Passlack, Ordets, Schlotterbeck, Bernardo (Masovic 46') - Losilla (Bero 60'), Osterhage, Asano (Oermann 20'), Stöger, Wittek - Hofmann

Bayer 04: Hradecky - Kossounou (Hofmann 64'), Tah, Tapsoba - Stanisic, Andrich, Xhaka (Puerta 79'), Arthur - Tella (Grimaldo 79'), Schick (Adli 69'), Boniface (Iglesias 69')

Goals: 1-0 Schick (41'), 2-0 Boniface (45'+2), 3-0 Adli (76'), 4-0 Stanisic (86'), 5-0 Grimaldo (90'+3)

Yellow cards: Ordets

Red cards: Passlack

Referee: Benjamin Brand

Attendance: 26,000 at the Vonovia Ruhrstadion

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