#B04FTC review: Home strength and firsts

summary: Pala and Flo turn it round

Still first out of the blocks in the Bundesliga, the Werkself had to come from behind on Thursday night. Ryan Mmaee opened the scoring for Ferencváros on eight minutes, Exequiel Palacios levelled on 37 minutes. After four substitutions for Leverkusen, Florian Wirtz netted the winner at 2-1 (69’). The match report is HERE.

reaction: "great to give the fans goals"

Let's start with the reaction from the opponents for a change – this time from Ferencváros head coach Peter Stöger (formerly at FC Köln and Borussia Dortmund). When asked about the performance of the 18-year-old Leverkusen matchwinner Wirtz, the Austrian said with a smile: "He's not bad. It's fun watching him. But not today."

The scorer of the winning goal was also at the end of the microphone after the game. Wirtz on making it 2-1: "It was a great assist from Jerry (Jeremie Frimpong, ed.). He saw I had lots of space. I struggled to control the ball at first but in the end I just hit it into the empty corner of the net," said the playmaker. "It's great to have fans back in the stadium and for me to give them a couple of goals."

Personnel: Pala and Piero firsts

Let's carry on with him while he is talking about it. Our number 27 has been simply outstanding so far this season. He has been directly involved in a Werkself goal every 34 minutes. And Palacios has scored his first goal for Bayer 04. The Argentinian made it 1-0 on 37 minutes.

Piero Hincapie made his debut in the Black and Red. The 19-year-old summer signing from Talleres Cordoba came on at left-back in place of Daley Sinkgraven on 66 minutes. The trio of Mitchel Bakker, Robert Andrich and Paulinho, who were all in the starting line-up for the 4-3 defeat against Borussia Dortmund at the weekend, did not play in this game.

Stats: the big s favours the black and reds

The only stat on the side of the visitors from Hungary: Ferencváros won 53.4% of challenges made. Otherwise, all the other numbers favour the Black and Reds. Two thirds of possession, a pass completion rate of 90.2% (Ferencváros: 80.8%) and 22 shots on goal compared with 10 for the Hungarians – those numbers are impressive. Thanks to the 2-1 victory, Bayer 04 have now gone 13 home games unbeaten in the Europa League (10 wins, three draws).

what the papers say: "top corner and Wirtz"

The BILD sums up the two Leverkusen goals on the night as follows: "Palacios scores an impressive goal from the edge of the box with a curler into the top left corner. After Frimpong wins possession, Wirtz cuts in and places the ball into the bottom right corner." Kicker praises head coach Gerardo Seoane: The substitutions made by the Swiss "paid off quickly" – that's how it should be.

The Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger provided individual marks to the players as usual. Frimpong and Wirtz both got second highest marks while the Rheinische Post awarded the top mark to Karim Bellarabi who came off the bench on 66 minutes.

outlook: off to swabia

The Werkself return to Bundesliga action three days after the opening match in the Europa League: Sunday, 19 September, brings an away game at VfB Stuttgart. The kick-off at the Mercedes Benz Arena is at 15.30 CEST. There are no games in Europe next week.