Bayer Leverkusen increased the pressure on Bayern Munich in the fight for the championship – but VfL Bochum was passionate about it for a long time.
At 3: 1 (1: 1), Aleix Garcia first scored for the Leverkusener (20th), Felix Passlack equalized in the 26th minute. After the change, Victor Boniface (60th) and Amine Adli (87th) took the goals for the important victory for Bayer.
Very different from, for example, in the past games against Bayern Munich, when Xabi Alonso acted anxiously without real tips, the Leverkusen coach put on two center strikers: Victor Boniface got another chance alongside Patrik Schick.
Bochum is denied a penalty
In the 10th minute, this brave measure almost backwards. Boniface wanted to clarify a ball in his own penalty area, but hit Felix Passlack’s hoe. Sven Jablonski did not give the due penalty for unknown reasons, even more astonishing that the VAR did not turn on.
In this phase, the Bochum leadership would have been happy, because Bayer initially put a lot more pressure, had the possession values in the 70 percent area, but came to the attentive guests hardly any clear deals. An opening pass from Exequiel Palacios then made the decisive difference in the 20th minute: Aleix Garcia took the ball centrally in front of the penalty area and used its place to go into a thoughtful Schlenzer in the right corner.
Worse bad pass from Xhaka before compensation
Bochum was not impressed by this and came with the very fresh memory of a catch -up at Bayern Munich: Before the international break, they had made a 3-2 3-2. Granit Xhaka then helped them back into the game in Leverkusen. The Swiss, much too casual, was a perfect steep template for Georgios Masouras, which failed due to Lukas Hradecky – but then passed paint used the rebound.
The following 20 minutes until the break were significantly more at eye level. Bochum switched forward faster, but a lot was held away from the penalty area on both sides, so that the goal shot balance was with a manageable 4: 3 for Leverkusen.
Boniface hits the thigh
In the second round, Boniface set the first exclamation mark after just a few seconds, but Timo Horn safely parried in VfL goal. It was powerless a quarter of an hour later: Piero Hincapié headed a free kick on the second post, Horn did not come up, Boniface pressed the ball over the line with his thigh.
VfL also needed a standard to become dangerous again after a long break, but Philipp Hofmann put his header too high. A good ten minutes before the end it looked twice shortly after a preliminary decision. At the first Leverkusen counterattack, Jeremie Frimpong pushed the ball past the ball, shortly afterwards Bayer brilliantly combined Boniface via Xhaka, Boniface and Frimpong – but his goal was revoked after a long VAR check.
Bayer stays tuned, Adli gets the Ko
Leverkusen did not let Bochum back into the game this time, was defensively and was ultimately rewarded: Jablonski let a tough duel go to the unwillingness of the guests, from this the decisive counterattack developed, which the substitute Adli ended after another dream pass from Palacios ice cold to the final score.
Shortly before the end, Xhaka still had the huge chance to set 4: 1, but his shot hit both posts and jumped back to the felf.
Leverkusen in Heidenheim, Bochum against Stuttgart
Leverkusen is now in demand in the next away game in Heidenheim (April 5th, 3:30 p.m.). At the same time, Bochum receives VfB Stuttgart.