Werkself review #MCIB04: Man City ‘blindsided’ with courage and class

Summary: Defensively passionate, ruthless in attack

Even though almost all the relevant stats from the first half narrowly favoured the Blues, the Werkself earned their 1-0 lead at the break with a battling performance. At the back, Mark Flekken made three outstanding saves (5', 43', 45') and, up front, Alejandro Grimaldo scored yet another great goal in the 23rd minute following an assist from Ibrahim Maza. For the second half, City coach Pep Guardiola brought on Phil Foden and Jeremy Doku, among others, and, later on, Erling Haaland. In the meantime, Patrik Schick - following another excellent assist from Maza - had increased the lead to 2-0. The English side attacked ceaselessly, running, crossing, shooting and combining , but there was always a Leverkusen player on hand to deal with the danger. And so, with 90 minutes on the clock, the two-goal lead remained intact. Cue exuberant celebrations from the team and fans in front of and in the stands to round off what was an outstanding thriller in Europe's premier club competition. Click HERE for the full match report.

Reaction: "Learned from the games against PSG and Bayern"

A visibly happy Kasper Hjulmand explained afterwards at the press conference: "I've just told the boys I'm very proud of them. This team has so much potential, such great character." The Dane also had this to say about his own approach to the game: "We've learned from the games against PSG and Bayern, where we were too passive. We had to and wanted to generate as many minutes as possible today in which we played our own game. We managed to do that. It's a night we'll remember for a long time to come and a great victory for Bayer 04 Leverkusen."

A delighted Patrik Schick stressed afterwards: "The plan worked: We kept things very tight at the back and were very effective in front of goal. We fought until the very last minute and are very happy with these three points. It feels wonderful!" Malik Tillman added: "We knew what was coming and were set up perfectly. We wanted to counter-attack and we managed to do that. It was a tough battle. Things have been going in the right direction for a few weeks now. This performance today will bring us even closer together!"

Press review: “Three-point miracle” from a "depleted side"

The kicker wrote of Bayer 04 laying down a 'marker’. It continued: "At the Etihad, the Werkself were not only extremely disciplined in how they played without the ball, but also extremely efficient in front of the opponents' goal." The Bild newspaper ran the headline "Super victory! Leverkusen blindside Pep!" The paper also wrote of a "three-point miracle" from a ‘depleted side at English giants Man City". Bild awarded Mark Flekken, Alejandro Grimaldo, Aleix Garcia, Malik Tillman and coach Kasper Hjulmand the highest grade of 1. For the Rheinische Post, it was a "surprise success", with the paper adding "well-deserved". And the Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger newspaper ran the headline "Leverkusen dupe Guardiola's second-string side".

Personnel: Flekken with another clean sheet

Around 90 per cent of the votes in the obligatory ‘Man of the Match’ poll among Bayer 04 fans went to Mark Flekken. The Dutchman was also presented with the official UEFA trophy for his performance after the game. He himself thanked his teammates in an interview with Werkself TV and spoke of "great respect for the whole team". The keeper stopped a total of nine (!) attempts from City, including a superb save from Erling Haaland on 70 minutes. When asked about his goalkeeper and the occasional public criticism of the 32-year-old so far this season, coach Hjulmand explained: "I've never had any doubts about Mark, I've emphasised that time and time again. He's very underrated when it comes to playing with the ball at his feet. He trains so hard every day, he turns up early every morning. Simply a complete professional. We're very lucky to have such a fantastic keeper."

Alejandro Grimaldo was once again convincing in attack. His opener was his second Champions League goal of the campaign, which is more than the Spaniard has scored in any previous season in Europe's premier club competition. With eight goals across all competitions, Grimaldo is the club's top scorer this term, one ahead of Patrik Schick (7). What's more, he's already scored more goals than in his 48 appearances last season (4). Keep it up, Grima!

Stats: Fourth straight competitive win

The Werkself have scored at least one goal in each of their five Champions League matches so far this season, their longest scoring streak in the competition since 16 September 2015 to 27 September 2016 (8 back then). And there are more runs: The win in Manchester was Bayer 04's fourth straight competitive one - their longest run since November 2024 to January 2025 (11). It was also their second consecutive away win in Europe's premier club competition - only the second time Leverkusen have ever achieved this (previously only in October/November 1997; also 2).

Moreover, it was the third win in the last five European clashes against English teams. That's the same number as in all of the previous 20 encounters with teams from the UK.

Up next: Dortmund league and cup double-header

Next up for the Werkself is the Bundesliga thriller against Borussia Dortmund. Kick-off in the sold-out BayArena is at 18.30 CET on Saturday, 29 November. Just three days later, the two sides face off again, but this time in the DFB Cup round of 16, when Bayer will be away from home. There are still some tickets left for the match at Signal Iduna Park on Tuesday, 2 December (kick-off: 21:00 CET). Tickets are on sale up to and including 26 November and can be purchased HERE.