Xabi Alonso made three changes to the team that started last week’s 1-0 win at Heidenheim. Edmond Tapsoba and Exequiel Palacios both returned from injury, while Patrik Schick also came into the side. Robert Andrich, Amine Adli and Victor Boniface dropped to the bench. Leverkusen controlled matters from the start at the sold-out BayArena and had the first shot after only 20 seconds through Jeremie Frimpong, while Schick had a couple of opportunities inside the first 10 minutes. Union thought they’d gone ahead when Leopold Querfeld put away a rebound from a corner after 15 minutes, but the defender was offside.
The pattern of play continued, with the defending champions even reaching 75 percent possession in the first half but unable to convert that dominance into notable chances against Union’s solid back five and four-man buffer in front. Schick had another attempt after half an hour but curled his effort wide as it remained goalless at the break.
Alonso made a change at the break by introducing Adli for Nathan Tella. The Morocco international was lively in the early minutes after the restart but also had no luck against the Berliners’ defensive wall.
The BayArena rose to its collective feet on 57 minutes as Wirtz was introduced for Aleix Garcia. The returning playmaker was immediately into the action and teed up Palacios, whose thumping shot was too close to the Union goalkeeper. The 21-year-old’s impact on Leverkusen’s forward play was clear to see, but Alonso sent on further firepower in Boniface for Alejandro Grimaldo and Arthur for Tapsoba, as well as Jonas Hofmann for Palacios later. The Werkself kept pushing right until the end and came closest through Schick in added time, but they just couldn’t get the goal they needed.
Next week’s Bundesliga game sees Bayer 04 go to Hamburg to take on St. Pauli on Sunday, 20 April (7.30pm CEST). They then host Augsburg at the BayArena on Saturday, 26 April (3.30pm).
Match stats:
Bayer 04: Hradecky - Tapsoba (Arthur 74'), Tah, Hincapie - Frimpong, Garcia (Wirtz 57'), Xhaka, Palacios (Hofmann 86'), Grimaldo (Boniface 74') - Tella (Adli 46'), Schick
Union Berlin: Rönnow - Doekhi, Querfeld, Leite - Trimmel (Roussillon 77'), Khedira, Juranovic (Rothe 82') - Schäfer, Haberer (Preu 77') - Ilic (Tousart 60'), Skarke (Hollerbach 60')
Yellow cards: Wirtz, Hofmann
Referee: Bastian Dankert
Attendance: 30,210 (sold out) at the BayArena
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