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
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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