Head coach Xabi Alonso made five changes to his team from Thursday’s UEFA Europa League victory away at Qarabag. Lukas Hradecky, Kossounou, Jeremie Frimpong, Exequiel Palacios and Jonas Hofmann came back in, with Matej Kovar, Josip Stanisic, Tella, Robert Andrich and Amine Adli dropping to the bench. On a run of 11 straight wins in all competitions, Leverkusen started with confidence and their usual dominant possession play. Union sat back in their own half to form a defensive wall. The first chances came after around 10 minutes when Victor Boniface missed the target from a Florian Wirtz delivery. Moments later, a poor Frederik Ronnow clearance went straight to Boniface, who tried to slip in Wirtz, but he had his path to goal blocked. Tah then met a corner unmarked at the far post but saw his header cleared by Paul Jaeckel.
A moment of magic from Grimaldo gave the Werkself a deserved lead, with Wirtz pressing to win back the ball before the Spaniard, who has just been called up for the national team for the first time, fired into the far top corner on his left foot for his sixth goal of the season. Ronnow later denied Frimpong with his feet. Boniface could’ve made it 2-0 but his header from close range was too close to Ronnow. Union’s goalkeeper was called into action again to turn a Wirtz effort around the post with his fingertips on the verge of half-time.
The Berliners appeared livelier after the break and Hradecky had to react to a long-range Aissa Laidouni effort. Bayer 04 then provided a telling response as Kossounou headed in a Hofmann corner on 57 minutes for his first-ever Bundesliga goal. Moments later, Jerome Roussillon prevented a Leverkusen third with a goal-line clearance from Frimpong. A deflected Hofmann shot also flew just wide.
Like the second goal, the third also came from a corner. This time it was Grimaldo’s delivery, which Tah acrobatically finished with just over a quarter of an hour to go. Leverkusen weren’t done there, though, as substitutes Tella and Adli finished off a counter moments after coming on thanks to a thumping effort under the crossbar from the summer signing, who marked his maiden senior Nigeria call-up with his first Bundesliga goal. It rounded off the Werkself’s 10th win in 11 Bundesliga outings this season as they equalled the best start in history, set by a Bayern team featuring Alonso under Pep Guardiola in 2015/16.
Club action takes a backseat for a week now as players go off to join their national teams for the international break. Leverkusen return to action on Saturday, 25 November with a Bundesliga trip to Werder Bremen (kick-off: 15:30 CET).
Match stats:
Bayer 04: Hradecky – Kossounou, Tah, Hincapie – Frimpong (Tella 80'), Palacios (Andrich 87'), Xhaka, Grimaldo – Hofmann (Adli 80'), Wirtz (Mbamba 87') – Boniface (Hlozek 87')
Union Berlin: Rönnow – Jaeckel, Bonucci (Knoche 24'), Leite – Juranovic (Trimmel 46'), Laidouni, Kral, Haberer, Roussillon (Gosens 78') – Becker (Aaronson 64'), Fofana (Behrens 78')
Goals: 1-0 Grimaldo (23'), 2-0 Kossounou (57'), 3-0 Tah (73'), 4-0 Tella (83')
Referee: Timo Gerach (Landau)
Yellow cards: Rönnow
Attendance: 29,387 at the BayArena (home contingent sold out)
Intercultural exchange: a youth team from Ouagadougou, the capital city of Burkina Faso, visited Leverkusen in the last few days. The players and staff from AD DUHA FC enjoyed a varied programme including training, a friendly - and a very special experience on Saturday afternoon.
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