Werkself impress in Europe with 5-1 win against Qarabag

The Werkself secured a convincing 5-1 victory over Qarabag on matchday three in the 2023/24 UEFA Europa League campaign. In the clash with the champions of Azerbaijan, who like Bayer 04 won their first two group matches, Alejandro Grimaldo scored a brace with the other goals coming from Florian Wirtz, Victor Boniface and Edmond Tapsoba. Patrik Schick made his comeback from injury to rejoin the as yet unbeaten Werkself on the pitch.

Compared with the line-up for the 2-1 win at VfL Wolfsburg, head coach Xabi Alonso made six changes to his starting eleven. Matej Kovar was again in goal as in the previous Europa League matches this season, Robert Andrich was also in the line-up and he led out the Werkself as captain for the first time. And Leverkusen had the first big chance on 40 seconds when a long-range effort from Alejandro Grimaldo went just wide of the target.

Wirtz and Grimaldo clinical- Boniface finds top corner

The Werkself opened the scoring shortly after that with Florian Wirtz turning a low cross from Grimaldo into the bottom right corner to make it 1-0 on four minutes. Leverkusen then dominated proceedings but were caught out with an equaliser out of the blue: A foul by Granit Xhaka on Juninho in the penalty area saw referee Horatiu Fesnic point to the spot. Tural Bayramov stepped up to convert the penalty (16'). In the following few minutes, Victor Boniface missed a chance from a good position, Amine Adli hit the bar and a shot from Xhaka was cleared off the line as the Werkself sought to restore the lead. The hosts were then rewarded for their attacking efforts just before the half-hour mark with a deserved second goal scored by Grimaldo (29’). Boniface increased the lead to 3-1 with a long-range effort into the top corner on 35 minutes. That was also the half-time score.

Schick returns after long lay-off

The Werkself upped the pressure after the restart – Grimaldo scored the fourth Leverkusen goal on this European night (54') with the outstanding Wirtz providing the assist. But there was more to come: Three minutes later Edmond Tapsoba scored with a tap-in to make it 5-1. Another highlight followed almost immediately with the introduction on the hour mark of Exequiel Palacios and Patrik Schick – the latter after 231 days out due to injury. The great significance of the return of the Czech striker was demonstrated by the standing ovation he received from the Bayer 04 fans at the stadium. The game settled down in the middle of the second half with few chances for either side. The Werkself remained on top and gave nothing away at the back. Grimaldo again caused excitement with a free kick that hit the bar (79').

An uneventful end to the game sealed the third win in the third group match that also means Bayer 04 remain unbeaten across all competitions in the 2023/24 season to date.

outlook: first the bundesliga then the pokal

The Werkself have another home match on Sunday 29 October (kick-off: 17.30 CET): SC Freiburg visit the BayArena on Bundesliga matchday nine. Next week sees the second round of the DFB Pokal with an away tie at third division SV Sandhausen on Wednesday 1 November (kick-off: 18.00 CET).

Match stats:

Bayer 04: Kovar - Kossounou, Tapsoba (Stanisic 70'), Hincapie, Grimaldo (Puerta 80') - Andrich, Xhaka (Palacios 61') - Tella, Wirtz (Hlozek 70'), Adli - Boniface (Schick 61')

Qarabag: Lunev – Silva (Benzia 46'), Mustafazada, Medina, Cafarquliyev - Romao, Jankovic (P. Andrade 62’) - Bayramov, L. Andrade (Akhundzade 70’), Zoubir (Keyta 86’) - Juninho (Xhixha 70’)

Goals: 1-0 Wirtz (4’), 1-1 Bayramov (16’), 2-1 Grimaldo (29’), 3-1 Boniface (35’), 4-1 Grimaldo (54’), 5-1 Tapsoba (57’)

Booked: Wirtz, Andrich - Andrade, Romao, Cafarquliyev

Referee: Horatiu Fesnic (Romania)

Attendance: 29,039 at the BayArena