Head coach Xabi Alonso made three changes to his line-up for the game against Inter Milan compared with the2-1 win against Bundesliga newcomers FC St. Pauli: Lukas Hradecky made way for Matej Kovar in goal with Jonathan Tah wearing the captain's armband tonight. Nordi Mukiele and Jeremie Frimpong came in for Arthur and Aleix Garcia.
The Werkself made a confident start to the game and had the majority of possession. The first attacking opportunity for the Black and Reds came in the third minute: Frimpong crossed the ball into the middle and Nathan Tella hit a volley against the bar. Shortly after that, Alejandro Grimaldo tested the Inter keeper Yann Sommer (11'), Granit Xhaka forced his fellow countrymen to make a save on 19 minutes. Wirtz had a shot on goal from distance towards the end of the first half (34') with the visitors having few attacking moves and no clear-cut chances. The first half ended goalless.
The Werkself started the second 45 playing with control and an intense passing game. The Nerazzurri, mainly focused on defending, made it difficult for the Werkself to find a way through the Italian defence. Frimpong had a chance on 53 minutes but missed the target. And an effort from Tah just after the hour mark flew just wide of the Inter goal (65'). The Inter Milan coach Simone Inzaghi then made a triple substitution that included bring on Lautaro Martinez.
The Italian trio failed to invigorate the Inter Milan game. On the contrary: The Nerazzurri appeared to be increasingly satisfied with a draw and put less effort into their own attacking play. However, the Werkself refused to give up and hit back with a last-minute winner: Nordi Mukiele sealed the victory on 90 minutes with an assist from substitute Martin Terrier. That secured three points against the Italian side who had previously conceded no goals in the competition!
Next up for the Werkself is the last match on the road in this calendar year. Bayer 04 are away to FC Augsburg on Saturday, 14 December (kick-off: 15.30 CET). That will be followed by the final home game and last match in 2024: The Werkself entertain SC Freiburg at the BayArena on Saturday, 21 December (kick-off: 18.30 CET).
Match stats:
Bayer 04: Kovar - Tapsoba, Tah, Hincapie - Mukiele, Palacios, Xhaka, Grimaldo (Garcia 90+3') - Frimpong, Wirtz (Andrich 90+3') - Tella (Terrier 83')
Inter Milan: Sommer - Bisseck, De Vrij, Bastoni - Darmian, Frattesi (Barella 66'), Calhanoglu (Asllani 66'), Zielinski, Augusto (Dimarco 56') - Thuram (L. Martinez 66'), Taremi (Arnautovic 85')
Goals: 1-0 Mukiele (90’)
Yellow cards: Calhanoglu, Augusto
Referee: Slavko Vincić (Slovenia)
Attendance: 30,210 (sold out) at the BayArena
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 working 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 personal 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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