Werkself up to second after storming 4-1 win in Sinsheim

Heiko Herrlich was understandably delighted afterwards. “We could have taken the lead earlier than just before half-time. We never let our opponents knock us out of our stride. I’m very happy with the three points against direct competitors for a European place,” the head coach declared. According to Julian Brandt, “at the end of the day, the win and the margin of victory were deserved.”

For the trip to Hoffenheim’s home fortress, Herrlich named an unchanged 18-man squad compared to the restart fixture against Bayern, although there were three new faces in the starting line-up where Charles Aránguiz, Baumgartlinger and Alario took over from Dominik Kohr, Kai Havertz and Karim Bellarabi. That entailed a change in formation from 3-4-3 to 4-2-3-1 with skipper Lars Bender at right-back and Kevin Volland in the hole behind centre-forward Alario. “We want to keep it tight, prevent them creating chances and obviously take the initiative in attack too,” Herrlich stated.

BAR TO LENO'S RESCUE

Both teams made light of the pouring rain in Sinsheim and tore into each other from the off. The early chances fell to the Werkself, with Bailey warming home keeper Oliver Baumann’s gloves in the sixth minute and then arrowing a cross just beyond Alario. At the other end Bernd Leno easily dealt with Steven Zuber’s eighth-minute shot. Bayer 04 might have taken the lead 11 minutes later after Bailey’s mazy solo run and pass down the inside-right channel, but Brandt hesitated for a moment and saw his effort blocked. Bailey and Alario came up just a yard short of crosses from Lars Bender and Wendell as the Werkself piled on the pressure midway through the half, although out of the blue Hoffenheim came within inches of the opener on 26 minutes when Dennis Geiger’s deflected shot looped onto the bar with Leno beaten..

BRILLIANT Bailey 

Bayer 04 ultimately went in at the break with a not undeserved lead thanks to a moment of footballing magic from Bailey in the 43rd minute: following a flowing move down the right and Brandt’s exchange of passes with Aránguiz, the Jamaican controlled the ball seven metres out with his back to goal before beating Baumann with a sublime left-footed back-heel into the bottom right corner. It was a gloriously cheeky piece of improvisation that took Bailey onto seven goals for the season and meant the Werkself have now scored at least once in a match for the 24th time on the bounce, equalling the club record from 1999/2000.

Neither coach made changes at the interval, but the home side came out with all guns blazing as Lukas Rupp marched into acres of space only to crash a 46th-minute shot from distance against the outside of Leno’s post, before Zuber intercepted a Wendell pass in a promising position three minutes later but dragged his shot wide of the far post. Hoffenheim were bristling with intent now, but the visitors refused to be rattled and produced a clinical response after 52 minutes when the irrepressible Bailey laid off for Lars Bender, the club captain teeing up his Austria counterpart Baumgartlinger to crack home the Werkself’s second with a firm drive from the edge of the box, a maiden Bundesliga goal for Bayer 04 from the man nicknamed “Baumi”. Home boss Julian Nagelsmann reacted to the two-goal deficit by switching to all-out attack, sending on strikers Andrej Kramaric and Mark Uth for Rupp and Ermin Bicakcic.

BRACE FOR Alario

The Werkself now had plenty of space on the break and Brandt ought to have wrapped up the points from Volland’s through ball, but the midfielder directed his 63rd-minute finish wide of the target with only Baumann to beat. Herrlich sent on Panos Retsos for the outstanding Lars Bender five minutes later, before Bailey capped his stellar display with a slide-rule pass for Alario to curl home the Werkself’s third 20 minutes from the end, taking the Argentine hitman up to five goals in the Bundesliga. Even now Hoffenheim refused to give up, but Bayer 04 centre-back Sven Bender marshalled his defence flawlessly until the 86th minute, when Szalai cut the arrears with a neat dink over Leno from close range. However, the visitors were to have the final word when Retsos charged down the right in added time and crossed for Alario to round off the scoring with a controlled volley at the far post.

Bayer 04 return to Bundesliga action at home to FSV Mainz 05 next Sunday, 28 January. Kick-off at the BayArena is at 15.30 CET.

Match stats:

TSG 1899 Hoffenheim: Baumann – Bicakcic (Uth 58'), Vogt. B. Hübner – Kaderabek, Zuber – Rupp (Kramaric 56'), Grillitsch (Amiri 62'), Geiger – Szalai, Gnabry

Bayer 04: Leno – L. Bender (Retsos 68'), Tah. S. Bender, Wendell (Henrichs 85') – Aránguiz, Baumgartlinger – Brandt (Mehmedi 78'), Volland, Bailey – Alario

Goals: 0-1 Bailey (43'), 0-2 Baumgartlinger (52'), 0-3 Alario (70'), 1-3 Szalai (86'), 1-4 Alario (90+3')

Referee: Stieler (Hamburg)

Booked: Bicakcic, Grillitsch – L. Bender

Attendance: 28.017