Against a lively St. Pauli side in the opening stages, the first chance for the Werkself fell to Jeremie Frimpong on 14 minutes. After a long period without chances for either side, Patrik Schick opened the scoring on 32 minutes with a header from an Alejandro Grimaldo free kick. Goal number eighteen of the season for the Czechia international gave the visitors a 1-0 lead at half-time as they controlled the match at that point. Lukas Hradecky kept out an effort from Eric Smith on the hour mark with an absence of other chances for the two teams – until the 74th minute. St Pauli's Morgan Guilavogui appeared to have scored but he touched the ball with his hand as he received it. The ball was again in the back of the Leverkusen net shortly after that and it counted this time: Carlo Boukhalfa netted with a tap-in for the final scoreline of 1-1 (78’). HERE is the match report.
Head coach Xabi Alonso summed up the game as follows: "It was a very intense match. We didn't start well but showed a good reaction with more control and tempo. St Pauli upped the pressure in the second half and after several set pieces we conceded the equaliser unfortunately." On the position in the table and the gap of eight points to league leaders Bayern Munich, the Spaniard added: "There have been too many draws. Now we have to accept where we are but the season isn't over yet! It's our job to focus on what we can do better."
The captain Lukas Hradecky spoke to Werkself TV: "We won games like that last season. The way we’re playing at the moment is below our expectations. There have been too many draws to apply pressure at the top. We are not in a rhythm and are not playing the attacking football that made us so strong. But we have to, and will, carry on right to the end. Now we can only say sorry to the fans and thank them for their great support tonight."
The match report in the kicker reads: "Bayer 04 Leverkusen only managed to draw 1-1 with newcomers St. Pauli after an indifferent attacking performance. [...]” The Rheinische Post reports "a relatively unsettled starting phase with lots of duels, high balls and a lack of structure. The frenetic match up to that point settled down after 20 minutes." The Sport Bild highlights: "The gap to league leaders Bayern Munich is now eight points. There are only twelve points left to play for this season."
With his opener against St. Pauli, Patrik Schick has scored every 75 minutes on average in the current Bundesliga campaign – that is only exceeded in Europe's top five leagues, taking into account all players with over 300 minutes on the pitch, by Ousmane Dembele for Paris Saint-Germain (a goal every 73 minutes). It was also goal number eighteen of the season for Schick and the fifth from a header which is only surpassed in the Bundesliga by Borussia Mönchengladbach’s Tim Kleindienst (six).
Florian Wirtz made his first start since the beginning of March and the 4-1 win at Eintracht Frankfurt and, above all in the first half, he stood out as the driving force at the centre of the Leverkusen game.
The numbers for the match are similar to the final scoreline: St Pauli had 10 shots to 6 on goal and won 54% of duels, the Werkself had 58% possession and a better pass completion rate (86 to 81%).
FC Augsburg visit the BayArena next Saturday, 26 April. The kick-off is at 15:30 CEST. The other opponents to the end of the season are SC Freiburg (4 May/away), Borussia Dortmund (11 May/home) and Mainz 05 (17 May/away).
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