Werkself give Hertha no chance in 4-1 win

Head coach Xabi Alonso made three changes to the team that lined up in the 1-1 draw at SC Freiburg. Jonathan Tah and Piero Hincapie returned to the starting eleven after suspension along with Florian Wirtz. Kerem Demirbay and Adam Hlozek dropped to the bench, left-back Mitchel Bakker was not in the matchday squad.

The Werkself, playing a 3-4-3 formation, pressed forward from the start. A one-two between Jeremie Frimpong and Moussa Diaby left the Dutchman with lots of space on the right flank and he raced to the byline but his cross was turned away by a Hertha defender for a corner (6'). Sardar Azmoun put Florian Wirtz through with a smart pass but the German international was put off as he shot (9'). The first goal came shortly after that: Diaby put Frimpong through in the penalty area and he laid the ball off to Azmoun with the Iranian hitting a low drive into the net to give Leverkusen an early lead (12') – Marco Richter attempted to clear but the ball was already clearly over the line.

Frimpong scores and then has to go off

Shortly after that came another outstanding move between Frimpong and Azmoun with almost a carbon copy of the opening goal but this time the Hertha keeper Oliver Christensen was able to turn the shot from the centre forward over the bar (17'). Hertha Berlin were almost unable to deal with the threat down the right from the hosts during this phase of the game: Diaby raced away from a pass by Odilon Kossounou, he left Filip Uremovic standing and his pass to Frimpong was turned into the net to make it 2-0 (21') with Richter again not being able to clear the ball off the line. Then came a blow: Frimpong had to go off due to a knock and he was replaced by Timothy Fosu-Mensah (29’).

Bayer 04 kept up the pressure and penned back the Berlin team. And the same time, the Werkself were very resolute and uncompromising in defending – Azmoun was happy to put the yards in his own half to make a clearance (39'). Just before half-time, Diaby wanted to lay off the ball instead of trying to convert himself from promising position from a defence splitting pass by Wirtz (43'). The Werkself went in at half-time with a richly deserved 2-0 lead.

Diaby converts perfect pass from Wirtz

Hertha Berlin started the second half with significantly more intent and Lukas Hradecky was forced to turn a shot from Lukebakio round the post (50'). At the other end, Christensen was severely tested with a 20-yard drive from Diaby (55'). The Hertha keeper also made a save from Piero Hincapie with his foot (59') but he was then beaten for a third time: Florian Wirtz played a sensational no-look pass into the feet of Diaby and the Frenchman, who had hit the bar just before that, nutmegged Christensen to make it 3-0 (60') – his eighth goal of the season. Hertha pulled a goal back from the penalty spot to make it 3-1 (66') after Fosu Mensah brought down Marvin Plattenhardt.

Schick and Adli immediately into action

Bayer 04 made a double substitution with Patrik Schick and Amine Adli coming on for the goalscorers Azmoun and Diaby (69’). And the two of them made an immediate impact: Schick put Adli through and he cut inside before putting a powerful left foot shot past Christensen into the bottom corner to make it 4-1 (73'). Hincapie missed a clear chance with a header to make it five and then Daley Sinkgraven and Nadiem Amiri came on in place of Hincapie and Wirtz (82’). Tah had a chance from an Amiri free kick (90+2’) – the scoreline remained 4-1 and that sees the Werkself move up two places in the table to ninth.

The match against Hertha Berlin is the first of five games in 14 days for Bayer 04. Next up is the Europa League Round of 16 first leg against Ferencváros on Thursday 9 March (18.45 CET, BayArena). The Black and Reds then face Werder Bremen in the Bundesliga on Sunday 12 March with the kick-off at 17.30 CET.

Match stats:

Bayer 04: Hradecky – Kossounou, Tah, Tapsoba – Frimpong (Fosu-Mensah 29’), Andrich, Palacios, Hincapie (Sinkgraven 82’) – Diaby (Adli 69’), Azmoun (Schick 69’), Wirtz (Amiri 82’)

Hertha Berlin: Christensen – Rogel, Uremovic, Kempf – Richter (Sunjic 84’), Cigerci (Ngankam 73’), Plattenhardt – Tousart, Serdar (Boetius 58’) – Lukebakio (Kenny 84’), Niederlechner (Jovetic 58’)

Goals: 1-0 Azmoun (12’), 2-0 Frimpong (21’), 3-0 Diaby (60’), 3-1 Lukebakio (67’ pen.), 4-1 Adli (73’)

Referee: Patrick Ittrich (Hamburg)

Booked: Tah – Ngankam, Kenny

Attendance: 30,210