Leverkusen were the dominant side from the start and fired off the first warning shot inside four minutes when Patrik Schick laid off to Jonas Hofmann, who flashed a shot just wide. The hosts were then reduced to 10 men after only 13 minutes when Jan Thielmann caught Granit Xhaka on his Achilles, being shown a red card on review by referee Tobias Stieler. Köln then sat back and were finally breached after 38 minutes when Alejandro Grimaldo crossed from the left to Schick, who flicked it on for Jeremie Frimpong to tap in the opener. The Cologne side had an immediate chance to level after the restart, but Sargis Adamyan struck the post with his volley. At the other end, Alonso’s men struggled to break down the compact Köln defence. They finally added a second with around a quarter of an hour to go when substitute Amine Adli found Grimaldo with a cutback, and the Spaniard fired beyond Marvin Schwäbe. Read more about the game in our report here.
Alonso said after the game: “I’m happy with the result. It’s not easy to win here. The atmosphere was amazing. It wasn’t easy for us to find space. It was then a different game after the red card. The goal was very important.” The coach continued: “We wanted to play with less emotion and more control in the second half. We were more patient finding our moments, and that’s how we scored the second goal. The game wasn’t spectacular, but we did our job.”
Xhaka was also pleased after the final whistle: “A derby is always special, obviously also for us. But being cool comes through our experience. We have young players who’ve done great things and players with lots of experience. The mix is very good.” Jonathan Tah added: “We wanted to remain focused after half-time and not get nervous. We wanted to make the opponent tired, make them run. We did that.”
The headline in the Rheinische Post was “Leverkusen win without shine in Cologne”. The Süddeutsche Zeitung summarised: “Even though Köln were a man down for a long time, league leaders Leverkusen didn’t have it easy”. The Frankfurt Allgemeine Zeitung had a similar perspective: “No walk in the park for the Werkself”. kicker highlighted Xhaka as man of the match: “A total of 120 touches and a pass completion of 94 percent – Granit Xhaka was the focal point for the entire game as the commanding leader and genius for Leverkusen.”
It was Alonso’s 50th Bundesliga game in charge of Bayer 04. His record so far is 33 wins, 10 draws and seven defeats. The Spaniard has therefore picked up 109 points – only Hansi Flick (125) and Pep Guardiola (132) have ever earned more from their first 50 matches in the league. Exequiel Palacios also made his comeback in the 83rd minute. Goalscorer Frimpong picked up his fifth yellow card and will be suspended for next weekend’s game against Wolfsburg.
The Werkself have scored in each of their last 17 competitive away games, which equals the club record at professional level from 2016. Leverkusen had 17 attempts on goal to Köln’s six and have now scored in 23 of their 24 league fixtures in 2023/24 – the most of any Bundesliga team.
In addition, Bayer 04 had 73 percent possession and a pass completion of 92 percent (Köln 74 percent). The hosts came out narrowly ahead for challenges won with 53 percent. Nevertheless, the Werkself kept their 12th clean sheet in 24 league matches – the most of any team.
The Werkself return to training on Tuesday as they prepare for the journey to Azerbaijan for Thursday’s UEFA Europa League round of 16 first leg against Qarabag (18:45 CET). The team then return home for Sunday’s Bundesliga encounter at the BayArena against Wolfsburg (19:30).
This afternoon, Saturday 24 January (kick-off: 15.30 CET), Bayer 04 host SV Werder Bremen, who are winless in their last seven league games. Nevertheless, in their last outing, a 3-3 draw against Eintracht Frankfurt, where they conceded a late equaliser, the Green and Whites did show their team spirit. The Werkself, led by birthday boy Patrik Schick, will be looking to counter this and secure their first three points of the new year on this ‘!Never Again’ remembrance matchday to commemorate the victims of National Socialism. Read on for the latest information in today's matchday news.
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Happy birthday, Patrik Schick! On his special day, it's not just the Czech striker who can look forward to lots of presents and hopefully many more goals – Bayer 04 fans can also get their hands on a free number 14 print when they buy a Werkself jersey today, January 24! In addition, a match-worn jersey belonging to the now 30-year-old will be raffled off among all purchasers next week.
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Werkself-TV shows the highlights of the Bayer 04 women's 2-1 win at 1. FC Union Berlin on the 15th matchday of the Google Pixel Frauen-Bundesliga 2025/26.
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Despite a severely depleted squad and being a player down, the Bayer 04 Women made a winning start to their 2026 campaign. Coach Roberto Pätzold's team won 2-1 at newly promoted FC Union Berlin on Friday night thanks to a last-minute goal. Vanessa Fudalla scored from a direct free-kick (78') and Kristin Kögel (90+2’) in stoppage time for the Werkself, who were reduced to ten players on 68 minutes, on an atmospheric stage at the Stadion An der Alten Försterei. As a result, the Black and Reds are now fifth in the table for at least one night at the start of matchday 15.
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The Werkself are looking for the first win of the new calendar year: Ahead of the sold-out Bundesliga home match against SV Werder Bremen on Saturday, 24 January (kick-off: 15:30 CET), head coach Kasper Hjulmand spoke about taking chances, possible winter transfers and a “Lion" returning to the Leverkusen matchday squad.
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