Bosz made six changes to the side that beat Union Berlin 3-1 in the DFB Cup quarter-finals. From the starting eleven on Wednesday night, Jonathan Tah, Daley Sinkgraven, Kerem Demirbay, Nadiem Amiri, Leon Bailey and Lucas Alario dropped out. They were replaced by Mitchell Weiser, Wendell, Karim Bellarabi, Paulinho, Moussa Diaby and Julian Baumgartlinger. The latter was the captain against Eintracht.
The first chance of the game fell to the visitors: Baumgartlinger slipped on the edge of his own penalty area allowing the Eintracht striker Daichi Kamada to shoot; Bayer 04 goalkeeper Lukas Hradecky was in the right spot to make the save (2'). The first chance at the other end brought an early lead for the Werkself: Diaby put in a low cross from the left for today's striker Kai Havertz to force the ball into the back of the net from close range to make it 1-0 (4'). And the hosts continued to be effective: After 14 minutes, Paulinho set up Bellarabi – with another cross from the left – to double the lead.
Just after the half-hour mark there was bad news for the Werkself: First choice central defender Sven Bender suffered a knee injury and had to go off with the support of the medics. He was replaced by Jonathan Tah (35'). The first Bayer 04 shot that didn't end up in the back of the Eintracht net came from Bellarabi shortly after that. The Frankfurt keeper Kevin Trapp was able to make the save (36'). The Black and Reds went into half-time with a deserved 2-0 lead.
Neither coach made any changes at half-time. The Bayer 04 fans were ready to celebrate the third goal two minutes after the restart – however Diaby, the provider for Havertz, was offside. The next move saw the Black and Reds supporters cheer the third goal of the day; Paulinho scored to make it 3-0 (48').
Eintracht then had their best chance of the game: Martin Hinteregger was unmarked from a free kick but his shot rebounded off Hradecky and the Austria international was unable to connect properly and put his effort wide of the target (54'). Paulinho went one better at the other end to double his tally with a second goal within six minutes to put the Werkself 4-0 up (55'). After that, the Werkself were less adventurous but continued to dominate the game.
A shot from Filip Kostic with 15 minutes to play was the only goal threat posed by the visitors after the Paulinho double. Evan Ndicka attempted to score with a header but again this effort went wide of the Bayer 04 keeper Hradecky's goal (80'). The Werkself remained in charge as they secured the 4-0 win – and that was rightly celebrated by the fans after the final whistle.
The Werkself are in action again on Thursday night in the Europa League in the fourth of five double fixture weeks in succession. Bayer 04 are away to Rangers in the first leg of the Round of 16. The kick-off at Ibrox is at 21.00 CET.
Match stats:
Bayer 04: Hradecky – Weiser, S. Bender (Tah 35'), Tapsoba, Wendell – Baumgartlinger, Aránguiz (Palacios 67') – Bellarabi, Paulinho, Diaby – Havertz (Bailey 62')
Eintracht Frankfurt: Trapp – Toure, Ilsanker, Hinteregger, Ndicka – Kohr (Sow 57'), Hasebe, Rode – Kamada (Gacinovic 57'), Silva (Paciencia 74’), Kostic
Goals: 1-0 Havertz (4’), 2-0 Bellarabi (14’), 3-0, 4-0 Paulinho (48’, 55’)
Referee: Dr. Felix Brych (Munich)
Booked: Weiser
Attendance: 30,210 (sold out)
This special event showed once again how strong Bayer 04 are as a team: As part of ‘BarmeniaGothaer gives joy’, the Werkself players Edmond Tapsoba, Ibrahim Maza and Christian Kofane supported the sale of individually designed T-shirts for a good cause at the Fanwelt on Thursday. Several hundred fans came to take part in the charity campaign. Leverkusen's main sponsor BarmeniaGothaer donated the proceeds to the Fondation Edmond Tapsoba, which helps people in Tapsoba's home country of Burkina Faso in their challenging everyday lives.
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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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From Ouagadougou to Leverkusen – and back: in March, Bayer 04 travelled with Edmond Tapsoba for a special project in his homeland Burkina Faso. The country where his roots and heart lie. The country where he’s more than a world-class defender: a symbol of hope and a role model for an entire generation. The result is a 45-minute documentary about Tapsoba’s long journey from Africa via Portugal to Leverkusen, which offers extraordinary, one-off and emotional insights.
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