Having started six of the first seven Bundesliga fixtures this season with the same starting XI, Xabi Alonso made two changes to his team, with Josip Stanisic in for Odilon Kossounou in defence and Amine Adli getting a chance ahead of Florian Wirtz. Patrik Schick was back in the squad after 226 days since he last played due to injury.
The game immediately came to life, with only 45 seconds on the clock before the first shot from Maximilian Arnold. Two minutes later, Victor Boniface tested Pavao Pervan, but the Nigerian was offside in any case from Exequiel Palacios’s pass. A Jonathan Tah header from a Grimaldo corner was held by the Wolfsburg goalkeeper.
It wasn’t long after that Leverkusen went ahead, with Boniface leading a break and drawing in three opponents before crossing to the far post, where Frimpong had to stretch to meet the bouncing ball and turn it in from a right angle – his third goal of the campaign and the 10th time Boniface has had a hand on one. Lukas Hradecky made a good save at the other end moments later. Boniface came close to making it 2-0 with a curling effort that went just wide on the half-hour mark. However, Wolfsburg got an equaliser before the break when the Werkself failed to clear a corner and Maxence Lacroix took advantage to steer past Hradecky.
The Wolves were eager to maintain their unbeaten record at home this season and made life tough for the Werkself. Alonso sent on Wirtz for Adli with an hour gone, and it produced an immediate impact. Wirtz pressed to win the ball back, allowing Frimpong to set up Grimaldo, whose deflected effort flew into the roof of the net with 62 minutes gone. Pavao’s foot denied Boniface before two defenders were needed to put off the big striker and prevent a third.
Bayer 04 controlled the game looking to see it out. Frimpong had the ball in the net again but was offside from Boniface’s pass. A Wirtz curler also went narrowly wide. Kossounou, Nadiem Amiri and Nathan Tella came on for Stanisic, Frimpong and Jonas Hofmann in the closing minutes. But it still needed two excellent saves from Hradecky to deny Jonas Wind deep into added time as Leverkusen retained top spot in the Bundesliga table with eight games gone.
Leverkusen have a busy run of fixtures over the next few weeks. Next up is the visit of Qarabag to the BayArena in the Europa League on Thursday before the Werkself host Freiburg in the Bundesliga the following Sunday.
Match stats:
Wolfsburg: Pervan – Bornauw (Kaminski 78'), Lacroix, Jenz – Baku, Svanberg (Majer 71'), Arnold, Maehle – Tiago Tomás (Sarr 46'), Gerhardt (Paredes 78') – Wind
Bayer 04: Hradecky – Stanisic (Kossounou 88'), Tah, Tapsoba – Frimpong (Amiri 88'), Xhaka, Palacios, Grimaldo – Hofmann (Tella 88'), Adli (Wirtz 60') – Boniface
Goals: 0-1 Frimpong (13'), 1-1 Lacroix (41'), 1-2 Grimaldo (62')
Referee: Marco Fritz (Korb)
Yellow cards: Arnold, Baku, Maehle – Palacios, Xhaka, Adli, Hofmann, Tapsoba
Attendance: 28,917
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