Erik ten Hag made three changes to the team that started last week’s game against Hoffenheim as Tillman was handed his debut and both Axel Tape and Christian Kofane came into the side, with Piero Hincapie, Arthur and Ibrahim Maza all dropping to the bench. Loïc Badé was another new signing in the squad for the first time, while Exequiel Palacios was also involved after his muscular injury. Lucas Vázquez wasn’t in the matchday squad.
Things started well for the Werkself in their new blue away kit as Nathan Tella intercepted a pass on the halfway line and raced towards the Bremen goal before cutting back for Schick to finish inside five minutes. As they did last week, Bayer 04 struck with their first effort on goal. Werder sought an immediate response, with Justin Njinmah volleying well wide and Marco Grüll coming a bit closer from range.
Leverkusen controlled most of the action and were patient in their build-up, with goalkeeper Mark Flekken helping to move the ball around from deep. When Bayer 04 did get into dangerous areas, they were clinical again. Tape down the right beat two defenders. Via Robert Andrich and Alejandro Grimaldo, Kofane crossed, finding Tillman, who juggled the ball on his chest and shoulder before volleying in on his left foot.
However, Bremen hit back before the break, with Schmid putting away a penalty after Tape’s challenge on Samuel Mbangula in the box was penalised on review. Kofane had the chance to restore the two-goal lead prior to half-time but hit the bar, while Grüll’s free-kick was denied by Flekken’s legs.
The Werkself started the second half well and soon caught Werder napping when Edmond Tapsoba’s goal-kick sent Kofane away into the opposition half. He was cut down by Niklas Stark in the box, with the Bremen defender receiving a second yellow card and Schick stepping up to put Bayer 04 3-1 up from the spot.
However, the drama didn’t end there. Despite the man disadvantage, Bremen got another goal back through substitute Schmidt, beating Flekken to a long ball and tapping into the empty net with 15 minutes left of the 90. The Werkself goalkeeper was also called into action to deny Keke Top and Yuki Sugawara but was unable to do anything when Coulibaly put away the equaliser in the 94th minute after Senne Lynen’s header had come back off the crossbar. The fact that Leverkusen are now unbeaten in 35 Bundesliga away games was little consolation.
The Bundesliga now takes a two-week break for the first international break of the season. The Werkself then return to action at home to Eintracht Frankfurt on Friday, 12 September (8.30pm CEST).
Match stats
Bremen: Backhaus – Sugawara, Stark, Coulibaly, Agu – Covic (Bittencourt 65'), Lynen – Njinmah (Alvero 65'), Schmid, Mbangula (Schmidt 71') – Grüll (Topp 71')
Bayer 04: Flekken – Tape (Badé 72'), Quansah, Tapsoba – Tella (Maza 87'), Andrich, Garcia (Palacios 61'), Grimaldo – Tillman (Echeverri 61') – Schick, Kofane (Poku 72')
Goals: 0-1 Schick (5'), 0-2 Tillman (35'), 1-2 Schmid (pen, 44'), 1-3 Schick (pen, 64'), 2-3 Schmidt (76'), 3-3 Coulibaly (90'+4)
Referee: Dr. Robin Braun
Yellow cards: Grüll, Stark, Schmidt - Kofane, Tella, Quansah
Red card: Stark (62')
Attendance: 42,000 (sold out) at the Weserstadion
Rüdiger Vollborn has been at the club for 40 years, he holds the record number of Bundesliga appearances for the club (401) and is the only Bayer 04 player to have won both the UEFA Cup (1988) and the DFB Pokal (1993). And the Berliner stayed with the Werkself after ending his impressive playing career as he worked as a goalkeeping coach for the following nine years. Vollborn now works under the Bayer Cross as a fan liaison officer and club archivist. Since February 2021, the personalised Black and Red lexicon takes Werkself fans under the heading of 'Rudi recounts...' on a brief trip through the history of Bayer 04 every month.
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