Werkself Review #BVBB04: Leverkusen land knockout blow

SUMMARY: HANDFUL OF CHANCES ENOUGH FOR WIN

The contest at SIGNAL IDUNA PARK was mostly played between the two penalty boxes, in stark contrast to the spectacular football of the previous match against Wolfsburg. Bayer 04 defended tightly and only allowed the hosts, who had collected 28 of a possible 33 points in the second half of the season to date and won 10 of their last 12 league games, just two real goalscoring opportunities. With the first for Daniel Svensson, Loïc Badé rescued the ball off the line with his head for the beaten Mark Flekken, who directed Serhou Guirassy's effort onto the bar late on in BVB's second big chance. In between that, it was the Werkself who had slightly more of the chances, with Christian Kofane and his later replacement Patrik Schick both being denied by Gregor Kobel. The BVB keeper was powerless for the winning goal from Robert Andrich in the 42nd minute, however: the Bayer 04 captain anticipated the counter-pressing just right, intercepted Ramy Bensebaini's pass and fired the ball with full force at 119.4 km/h into the net from long range. Read the full match report HERE.

REACTION: 'THE RIGHT BALANCE THIS TIME'

When one player keeps a clean sheet and the other scores the winning goal, of course there's no cause for complaint. "It was important to come away from here with the three points - and, for me personally, that we kept a clean sheet after two very frantic games," said Flekken. And the goalkeeper praised the players in front of him: "The guys in front of me did a great job defensively and kept a lot away from the goal. We had the right balance in all the facets of our game this time."

Andrich viewed it similarly: "We took a bit of time to get into it, but then we did well both with and without the ball, and deservedly got the goal in my opinion. Wins in Dortmund taste very good, but ultimately they're still only worth three points. So, we shouldn't get carried away and we have to build on this in the coming matches," added the captain.

WHAT THE PAPERS SAY: DEFENCE IMPRESSES

"Efficient Leverkusen side who didn't need many opportunities," described the Rheinische Post, who noted the Werkself's "stability and sharpness in defence". Bild am Sonntag handed centre-back Edmond Tapsoba the highest rating of 1 and summarised: "Leverkusen sat deep, waited and then struck in clinical fashion." Kicker also scored the Leverkusen rearguard highly: Loïc Badé ("a calm anchor with a strong presence"), Andrich ("valuable instigator, alert and aggressive in the tackles") as well as Tapsoba ("a real ball magnet at the back, good vision in build-up and footballing quality") all received the 2 mark.

PERSONNEL: WHEN ANDRICH SCORES, THERE ARE POINTS

Flekken reached two milestones in Dortmund: the Werkself custodian made his 100th Bundesliga appearance, and also became the only goalkeeper to keep a clean sheet against BVB in the German top flight this season. There are impressive numbers on Andrich, too: whenever the 31-year-old has netted in the Bundesliga, his teams haven't lost (12 wins, eight draws). What's more, nine of his 20 goals to date have come from distance. Since his first strike in the Bundesliga on 7 June 2020 - then for Union Berlin - only Maximilian Arnold and Vincenzo Grifo (both 11) as well as Harry Kane (10) have scored more long-range goals.

STATS: UNBEATEN IN SEVEN

The Werkself are now unbeaten in 16 games when they've gone 1-0 up this season (since the 2-1 defeat to Hoffenheim on the opening matchday). Bayer 04 have also not lost when leading at half-time on the road in over four years (since February 2022 at Mainz). Along with Bayern, Leverkusen are the only side to have beaten Dortmund in domestic competitions this season, doing so for the second time after the 1-0 victory in the DFB Pokal. They're now unbeaten in seven Bundesliga outings (W3, D4), the longest unbeaten run under Kasper Hjulmand. BVB did have a slight edge in possession (52-48%) and pass completion (90-89%), but Bayer 04 registered more attempts on goal (5-1) and had the quickest player on the pitch in Tapsoba (top speed 33.95 km/h).

UP NEXT: AUGSBURG ON SATURDAY

The win in Dortmund has moved Bayer 04 above Hoffenheim into fifth place. They'll be looking to further improve their position when they host FC Augsburg on Matchday 30 next Saturday, 18 April (kick-off 15:30 CEST).