Werkself lose 5-1 at home to FC Bayern

Head coach Gerardo Seoane made three changes to the side that beat Bielefeld 4-0: Mitchel Bakker, Nadiem Amiri and Paulinho started in place of Piero Hincapie, Amine Adli (both on the bench) and Charles Aranguiz. The Chilean had a problem with a calf muscle and he was not the only player to drop out as Exequiel Palacios withdrew late on due to a cold. Edmond Tapsoba (following ankle injury) and Zidan Sertdemir were on the subs bench for the first time this season.

The Werkself started brightly and got stuck into challenges. That made the early goal conceded by the Black and Reds even more annoying: A free kick from Joshua Kimmich to the far post was met by Dayot Upamecano who hit the ball back across the face of the goal to Robert Lewandowski. The Pole evaded his marker and scored the opener with his heel (4').

no joy up front– Sané hits the post

Leverkusen appeared unmoved by the early setback. Paulinho, Patrik Schick and Moussa Diaby caused problems for the Bayern defence but the offensive aspirations of the Seoane team went unrewarded. In contrast, Bayern Munich were extremely confident and again and again showed their individual class. As on 19 minutes: Leroy Sané was given too much space and he unleashed a shot from 25 yards out with the ball rebounding off the post. Leon Goretzka had the next decent chance for the visitors a few minutes later. The midfielder had a clear sight of goal from just inside the box but his effort was comfortably saved by Lukas Hradecky (22').

Eight minutes later and the Werkself keeper was beaten for a second time on the day: Alphonso Davies cut into the penalty area from the left and set up Lewandowski to score from inside the six-yard box (30'). The second goal was like a punch in the stomach and within a few minutes the record champions struck another three times: First, Thomas Müller made it 3-0 from a corner (34') before Serge Gnabry netted a brace (35', 37') to put FC Bayern 5-0 up.

Tapsoba makes Comeback – Schick nets consolation goal

The second half began with good news – except for the scoreline: Seoane made his first change sending on Tapsoba, who had suffered a torn ankle ligament in the middle of July, to make his comeback to the first team. The Werkself looked more solid with the change in central defence. And the Black and Red attack started to move up the gears: A great move ended with Demirbay denied by the FCB keeper Manuel Neuer but the Bayer 04 striker Schick pulled a goal back: The Czech was put through by Wirtz and he beat Neuer with a right-foot shot into the bottom left corner (55').

The pace of the game slackened with much of the action in midfield. Bayern eased off leaving the Werkself with a few opportunities on the counter-attack but there was too often a lack of precision in the final third. Bayer 04 head coach Seoane has again and again stressed when asked that his team is going through a phase of development. That includes smaller setbacks as well as success – as on this Sunday afternoon with the 5-1 defeat against the record champions from Munich.

next top match on thursday

The Black and Reds are back in action on Thursday, 21 October (kick-off: 18.45 CEST): On the third matchday in the group stage of the Europa League, the team led by coach Seoane are away to Real Betis. It's the next top match as Leverkusen and the Spaniards both have six points from the first two games.

Match stats:

Bayer 04: Hradecky – Frimpong (Bellarabi 64'), Kossounou, Tah, Bakker – Amiri, Demirbay – Diaby (Adli 64’), Wirtz (Retsos 79’), Paulinho (Tapsoba 46’) – Schick (Alario 79’).

Bayern Munich: Neuer – Süle (Richards 72’), Upamecano, Hernandez, Davies (Stanisic 40’) – Kimmich, Goretzka (Sabitzer 46’) – Gnabry, Müller (Coman 64’), Sané – Lewandowski (Musiala 64’).

Goals: 0-1 Lewandowski (4’), 0-2 Lewandowski (30’) 0-3 Müller (34’), 0-4 Gnabry (35’), 0-5 Gnabry (37’), 1-5 Schick (55’)

Booked:

Referee: Sven Jablonski (Bremen)

Attendance: 29,542 (sell-out)