José Mourinho can describe the story of a game in just a few words like no other coach in world football.
After the 0-1 loss against Bayer Leverkusen, the 62-year-old didn’t find it as easy to analyze as usual, but he ultimately got to the point: “And then they brought some style,” said Benfica Lisbon’s star coach briefly and succinctly, explaining the decisive turning point in this Champions League game.
Patrik Schick came on in the 57th minute. Eight minutes later the Czech headed the decisive goal. And despite all the quarrels about what he saw as the unfair course of the game, Mourinho was at least briefly impressed by the giant attacker. “A player with an impressive physical stature” was chic, said Mourinho. This statement was also appropriate given the 29-year-old’s 1.91 meters and 86 kilograms on the scales.
Impressive stature
The Czech only needed a few minutes to turn the game in his team’s favor. It was probably also because of slight physical problems that he initially observed from the bench that Benfica should actually have taken the lead. Bayer were lucky several times in the first half alone, especially with the two aluminum hits from Dodi Lukebakio (11th) and Nicolas Otamendi (33rd).
“We have to be leading 2-0 or 3-0 at half-time,” complained Mourinho, not entirely without reason. Bayer was a team “that didn’t create anything, that didn’t do anything to win.” Which then again wasn’t entirely true. Because then came Schick, who pulled the plug on the hosts after a slapstick act and thus gave the Werkself their first three-pointer of the current season in the premier class.
Goalscorer Schick: “Very happy”
After a wonderful pass from former Lisbon player Alejandro Grimaldo, the striker initially aimed too centrally at Benfica goalkeeper Anatolij Trubin from a tight angle. Its rebound landed at Samuel Dahl, who, with an unfortunate defensive move, headed the ball back to, of all people, Schick. He thanked him for the unexpected assist and also headed the ball into the far corner.
“I’m very happy that my goal was the winning goal. It was a very important victory for the coming games,” said Schick. In fact, Leverkusen’s focus is now primarily on the Bundesliga. After the recent 3-0 setback at Bayern, only a win counts against 1. FC Heidenheim on Saturday (3:30 p.m.). Points should also be scored immediately after the international break at VfL Wolfsburg in order to stay in touch with the premier class places after the big upheaval in the summer.
Schick dreams of taking part in the World Cup for the first time
Schick should make a significant contribution to this. Among all the highly talented people, he is one of the few Bayer professionals with a lot of experience. Schick has been at the club since 2020 and is one of the fewer players from the double year of 2024. He has also already made an impression at two European Championships and will soon be making his first World Cup appearance with the Czechs.
So Schick is definitely one of the players that Bayer coach Kasper Hjulmand indirectly addressed after the win in Lisbon. “Our young players are helped a lot by the experienced players. The experienced players enable the young players to do their best,” said the Dane. But sometimes it has to be the experienced people who make the decisions. Just like Patrik Schick.