Head coach Xabi Alonso made two changes to his starting line-up from the 0-0 draw against VfB Stuttgart: Exequiel Palacios and Aleix Garcia replaced the injured Nordi Mukiele and Robert Andrich (bench). After the famous Liverpool anthem "You'll Never Walk Alone", Dutch referee Danny Makkelie got the match under way and the first shot came from the boot of Victor Boniface after just two minutes. Cody Gakpo's more threatening effort for the home side was blocked (7'). Lukas Hradecky then saved comfortably from Curtis Jones' attempt (15'). Five minutes later, Virgil van Dijk just managed to get to the ball before Jeremie Frimpong, who would've been in a very promising position.
Not much happened in front of the goals for a while after that. Trent Alexander-Arnold's free kick from close range was deflected behind by the Leverkusen wall (36'). At the other end, Alejandro Grimaldo fired over the bar from long range (37'). Just before half-time, Frimpong did actually put the ball in the LFC net but the Dutch international had touched the ball with his hand when controlling it. Gakpo was again denied by Hradecky in stoppage time, meaning the first half ended goalless.
Liverpool midfielder Jones had the first opportunity after the restart (55'), before Mohamed Salah fired wide in space three minutes later. The next LFC attack ended in a goal, though. Jones played a perfect through ball into the path of Luis Diaz, who chipped the ball over Hradecky and into the net to make it 1-0 (61'). Immediately after that, Gakpo doubled the lead with a header. Hradecky had to make a strong save to stop Alexander-Arnold making it three (73'). After a quieter spell, Diaz did extend the lead to 3-0 from close range (83'). Leverkusen did have chances through Florian Wirtz (85') and substitute Andrich (87'), but Diaz wrapped up a 4-0 win and his hat-trick in the second minute of added time.
A busy period ends with the Bundesliga away match at VfL Bochum on Saturday 9 November at 15:30 CET. That's followed by the final international break of 2024, before three more consecutive weeks of midweek matches.
Match stats:
Liverpool: Kelleher - Alexander-Arnold (Bradley 80'), Konate (Quansah 78'), Van Dijk, Tsimikas (Robertson 80') - Jones (Szoboszlai 73'), Gravenberch, Mac Allister - Salah, Luis Diaz, Gapko (Nunez 80')
Bayer 04: Hradecky - Tapsoba, Tah, Hincapie - Frimpong, Palacios (Andrich 73'), Xhaka, Grimaldo (Tella 80') - Wirtz, Garcia (Hofmann 73') - Boniface (Schick 80')
Goals: 1-0 Luis Diaz (61'), 2-0 Gakpo (63'), 3-0 Luis Diaz (83'), 4-0 Luis Diaz (90'+2)
Yellow cards: Garcia, Hradecky
Referee: Danny Makkelie (Netherlands)
Attendance: 61,276 (sellout) at Anfield
Video games manufacturer Electronic Arts (EA), together with the German Football League (DFL), announced the top male and female selections for the 2025/26 Bundesliga season this week. Bayer 04 striker Vanessa Fudalla is in the starting eleven of the women's "Team of the Season". Alejandro Grimaldo and Aleix Garcia have been selected as bench players in the men's team.
Show more
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.
Show more
With three games to play before the end of the season, the Bayer 04 Women can break one record and equal another at SGS Essen. After three wins on the bounce, coach Roberto Pätzold's team are aiming to maintain the chance of third place in Sunday’s away game (14:00 CEST, Stadion an der Hafenstraße).
Show more
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…
Show more
RB Leipzig travel to Leverkusen on the back of a winning run: Ole Werner's team have clocked up five wins on the bounce. Currently third in the Bundesliga, qualification for the UEFA Champions League is within reach. This Saturday, 2 May (kick-off: 18:30 CEST), RBL want to take the next step towards next season’s UCL campaign at the BayArena. The lowdown on our next opponents.
Show more
