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)
Bayern Munich come to the BayArena this Saturday with an 11-point lead in the Bundesliga as they look to take a step closer to the title. As imperious as they may seem, a weakness has emerged of late that the Werkself proved they can exploit in Wednesday’s 1-1 draw with Arsenal in the Champions League. Leverkusen are also looking to make it four Bundesliga home games unbeaten against the Bavarians. Here’s all you need to know ahead of the 15:30 CET kick-off in our matchday news.
Show more
Another home game, another top opponent - another marker? Three days after their convincing performance in the 1-1 draw with Arsenal in the UEFA Champions League round of 16 first leg, Bayer 04 continue their Bundesliga campaign with an equally high-calibre fixture. Matchday 26 sees league leaders Bayern Munich visit the sold-out BayArena. Ahead of the clash, head coach Kasper Hjulmand spoke about a comparison between Arsenal and the Bavarians, Bayern's high-scoring performance in Europe's premier club competition and a return to the squad for one Werkself player.
Show more
High spirits and previously untold stories: Around 100 Bayer 04 fans packed the Schwadbud fan pub in the east stand of the BayArena on Thursday evening to be there in person for the first instalment of the new series of events entitled “Rudi lädt ein” (Rudi invites you). They listened intently as long-serving Werkself players Gonzalo Castro and Stefan Kießling chatted with record appearance-maker Rüdiger Vollborn and presenter and stadium announcer Tobias Ufer about their many years together at the club, shared amusing anecdotes and revealed dressing room secrets. Anyone who missed the premiere can already look forward to the second instalment – on 12 May, Rudi will be testing the expert knowledge of Bayer 04 fans during a quiz night.
Show more
The Bundesliga home game against VfL Wolfsburg in the first half of the season was one of those classic ‘days to forget’ for Bayer 04 Women. It started with goalkeeper Charlotte Voll being shown a red card in the first minute of the game, and following a further sending-off, coach Roberto Pätzold's 9-women side ended up losing 5-1 to last season's runners-up. At 18.30 CET on Sunday, they'll have the chance to exact revenge at the AOK Stadium - and pick up valuable points in the race for third place.
Show more
They're well on their way to becoming German champions for the 35th time and once again proved their incredible class in the UEFA Champions League on Tuesday. This Saturday, 14 March (kick-off: 15.30 CET), Bayern Munich will be the visitors to the BayArena. It'll be a meeting of the two Bundesliga teams with the most dominant styles of play. A look at our opponents shows the visitors from the Bavarian capital have many strengths - but are also vulnerable.
Show more
