It took precisely 111 seconds for the Werkself to draw first blood. A long ball from Jonathan Tah deep inside his own half caught out the Berlin defence and reached Alejandro Grimaldo, whose square ball left Jeremie Frimpong with a simple finish past goalkeeper Frederik Rönnow. The Black and Reds appeared to have everything under control but then allowed themselves to be caught off guard on the right-hand side, despite having plenty of bodies, and conceded the equaliser through Jeong (29'). After around an hour, Xabi Alonso made a difference with the introduction of Florian Wirtz and Exequiel Palacios. It was the Argentinian who set up Wirtz, and it was his pinpoint cross that Patrik Schick bundled in with his chest from five metres (71'). Read the full match report HERE.
"It was a close match, I'm very happy that I scored again," said winning goalscorer Schick. Frimpong spoke of a "big win against difficult opponents". Goalkeeper Lukas Hradecky, meanwhile, praised his side for making "a lot of mature decisions" on the pitch, highlighting: "It's been an issue for us that we've dropped points in previous away games. We stayed solid defensively and can be proud of the performance." The head coach took a similar view to his captain: "It's going well for us right now. It was important that we finally won away again - we've learned from the last few weeks," said Alonso.
The Bild am Sonntag picked out a remarkable statistic: "Leverkusen remain unbeaten for the 23rd consecutive away game in the Bundesliga - and are ready for the cup showdown against Bayern." Meanwhile, the Berliner Morgenpost reported on events from a Union point of view: "Union end goal drought but also suffer their first home defeat of the season against Leverkusen." In the Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger, the heading "That was good" could be seen: "The confidence and composure with which Leverkusen earned this win. Even the equaliser didn't disrupt the play. The double winners lived up to their favourites tag and came away with three deserved points, not something every club takes from the Alten Försterei."
The attention was on the two goalscorers, who each equalled a record. Frimpong's opener in the second minute equalled Schick's effort in the cup match against SV Elversberg as the Werkself's fastest goal of the season, while the Czech international netted for the 48th time in his 100 Bundesliga appearance in the black and red, equalling the record set by Ulf Kirsten. "To be honest, I didn't even know I could reach that mark in Berlin now, but it's obviously a very nice moment for me to have reached the record of our club legend Herr Kirsten," said Schick, who continued his good form of recent weeks. The striker has scored five goals in the last three games and eight in the last seven overall.
The tough-tackling Berliners had a slight edge in the direct duels (51%-49%) but otherwise, most of the stats favoured Bayer 04. The German champions were in front when it came to both possession (62%) and pass completion rate (85.4% to Union's 72.2%). In terms of shots on goal, it was even at eight apiece.
Bayer 04 now go into the second of three consecutive weeks with midweek fixtures. On Tuesday 3 December, the Black and Reds travel to Munich for a DFB Cup last-16 clash with FC Bayern. Kick-off at the Allianz Arena is at 20:45 CET. Four days later, it's back to Bundesliga action with the home match against FC St. Pauli on Saturday 7 December (15:30 CET).
A special afternoon at the Bayer 04 Football Academy autumn camp: At the Liga 20 indoor football centre, in the shadow of the BayArena, two Werkself women’s team players led a training session. Loreen Bender and Selina Ostermeier not only offered the young players advice and support, but also got stuck in themselves.
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