Bundesliga leaders Bayer Leverkusen have suffered a rare setback in their tight title race with FC Bayern.
Against Borussia Mönchengladbach, coach Xabi Alonso’s team couldn’t get past a 0-0 draw despite their great superiority. The lead over the record champions, who beat FC Augsburg 3-2 in the afternoon, shrank to two points two weeks before the direct duel.
The Werkself missed numerous good opportunities, but still remained unbeaten in their 28th competitive game of the season. Gladbach is in twelfth place in the table with 21 points after 19 games.
At Bayer, substitute goalkeeper Matej Kovar surprisingly made his Bundesliga debut. The Czech, who has so far only played in the DFB Cup and the Europa League, also displaced captain Lukas Hradecky in the league for the first time. Alonso spoke of “healthy competition” and match practice with a view to the cup quarter-finals on February 6th against VfB Stuttgart.
In comparison to the last-minute win at RB Leipzig (3:2), Nadiem Amiri also replaced the injured Exequiel Palacios, Robert Andrich moved into the back three for the suspended Jonathan Tah, and he also took over the captain’s armband for the first time. For the guests, coach Gerardo Seoane was able to rely on Florian Neuhaus from the start for the first time since the beginning of December. Alassane Plea didn’t get fit in time, Rocco Reitz and Christoph Kramer, who were also injured during the week, were at least on the bench.
Crushing Leverkusen superiority
Leverkusen’s superiority was overwhelming at the start of the game in front of 30,210 spectators. After just under 15 minutes, the favorites had over 85 percent possession of the ball and played 228 passes – the guests, in comparison, only 35. Amiri (5th), Jonas Hofmann (18th) and Florian Wirtz (19th) narrowly missed the early lead.
Kovar, who came from Manchester United before the season, had to grab the ball for the first time in the 22nd minute after a shot from Luca Netz. In the immediate counterattack, Wirtz failed again after a fantastic combination due to the brilliant support of Foal Moritz Nicolas.
Driven by ex-Bayer coach Seoane, Borussia got into the game a little better – and repeatedly launched attacks to relieve the pressure. Kovar began to have difficulties with Manu Kone’s long-range shot (32′), but otherwise the 23-year-old had a quiet evening.
For only the third time this season, Bayer went into the break 0-0 – and also missed the best opportunities after the break. Jeremie Frimpong failed to hit the ball correctly twice (57th/59th), Neuhaus also stopped the running winger with a strong tackle (60th).