Leverkusen made two changes from last Friday’s goalless draw against VfB Stuttgart. Lukas Hradecky was first called into action after 15 minutes to save against Curtis Jones, before Virgil van Dijk’s intervention prevented Jeremie Frimpong from getting a shot away. Not much happened in front of goal after that until Frimpong fired home just before half-time, but it was called back for handball in the build-up. After the restart, Liverpool upped the tempo and hit two quickfire goals through Luis Diaz and Cody Gakpo. The hosts dominated from that point, with Diaz scoring two more late on to round off his hat-trick. Read more about the game in our report HERE.
Granit Xhaka said afterwards: “It was a really good first half from us. We had a lot of possession and a lot of what we’d planned was working. But we knew that Liverpool can’t be controlled and dominated for 90 minutes. In the end, we conceded the goals too easily. We can’t do that. The first goal was world class. The others frustrate me. We’re at this level to measure ourselves against the best. Liverpool are among those teams. We’ll take a lot of things with us – good and bad. And if we keep doing our thing, we’ll start winning games again.”
Captain Hradecky added: “We’re also asking ourselves what we lacked in the second half. We didn’t show resistance in the final 30 minutes. The goals came quickly after each other. On the whole, the result is disappointing, especially for our fans. They didn’t deserve that.”
The Rheinische Post ran with the headline “Liverpool overrun Leverkusen”, adding “Bayer produced just one half on an equal footing with the English side. The Reds then dominated in the 4-0 win”. The Süddeutsche Zeitung had a similar view: “After a half on an equal footing with the Premier League leaders, the champions of Germany then felt the full might of Anfield in the second half.” Bild focused on Xabi Alonso’s return to Anfield: “He was celebrated with an ovation and chants by the Liverpool fans. They were goosebump moments.”
There was no doubt that Alonso was the focus for much of the media and crowd in attendance as the Werkself boss made his first return to Anfield as a coach. Fans from both Leverkusen and Liverpool applauded and chanted his name both before and after the final whistle, having helped the Reds win the Champions League as a player on Merseyside.
Alonso said after the game: “To win against top, top teams, you need to go through tough moments and suffer. We need to learn from this and also learn to enjoy moments like this to then pounce. All in all, we’re in a good position with seven points and the games to come. We’re not happy today, but tomorrow we’ll think about the next game. And we’ve got time to analyse the good and bad sides of the game.”
Bayer 04 have now won only one of 12 away games in England in UEFA competition (D3, L8), including defeat on all three visits to Anfield.
In terms of match stats, Liverpool led on shots (22-12), while the passing stats were pretty even. Alonso’s side dominated in terms of possession (53%) and duels won (595).
The last of seven fixtures in the space of 22 games takes Leverkusen to Bochum in the Bundesliga on Saturday (3.30pm CET). There’s then the final international break of the year before another busy run through to Christmas.
Just in time for the start of the school year, everyone was hard at work again at NaturGut Ophoven. For the 21st time, Bayer 04 have supported the annual ‘BioBrotbox’ campaign, which puts together a healthy breakfast for first-year primary school pupils in Leverkusen – and not only contributed 1,904 muesli bars but also plenty of enthusiasm too: Together with the U19 players Burak Kir and Clinton Wilson, Emily Wallrabenstein and Paulina Platner from the Women’s Bundesliga team helped with the packing. The latter was clearly delighted “that Bayer 04 are helping out with regional projects like this and showing their commitment to the local community”.
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A group of about 50 members of the Bayer 04 Football Academy São Paulo visited Leverkusen over the past few days, accompanied by Bayer 04 club legend Paulo Sergio and Luiz Felipe (managing director of academy in São Paulo) for a week full of football, encounters and very special insights. In addition to the Bundesliga away game in Elversberg and the home game against Union Berlin, the visit also featured a joint training session with the Bayer 04 Football Academy in Leverkusen and a tour of the Bayer AG facilities. The guests also gained special insights into the club and the world of Bayer 04.
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The men's clothing retailer LERROS will remain the official fashion and premium partner of Bayer 04 for the current season. As in the past, LERROS will provide the club's men's team, coaching staff and management with high-quality clothing for international trips.
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“Diaby! Diaby! Diaby!” was the cry around the BayArena as the Werkself danced in front of the north stand following their 4-0 win over Union Berlin. Captain Edmond Tapsoba gave his new (and old) teammate a friendly shove forward to take in the acclaim from the fans. The returning Frenchman was typically reserved in thanking the supporters but was clearly emotional about what was happening.
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