Goal scorer Patrik Schick led Christmas champions Bayer Leverkusen to the sole starting record in German professional football with a hat trick. Thanks to the confident 4-0 (3-0) win against VfL Bochum, coach 83 across all competitions had not lost 24 games at the start.
Schick, who only celebrated his comeback a few weeks ago after a long-term adductor injury, scored with a penalty kick (30th), with a direct shot (32nd) and with a header (45th + 1). Joker Victor Boniface made the final score (69′).
After matchday 16, the Werkself are at the top with 42 points at Christmas. The Alonso team only dropped points against their closest rivals Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund and VfB Stuttgart and are entering the new year as hot title contenders – in three competitions.
Bochum only keeps up in the first few minutes
Fireworks, pyrotechnics and thousands of euphoric Bayer fans created a crackling atmosphere at the bus reception long before kick-off, and the club also honored its 40,000th. Member. “Feeling the anticipation of the fans is almost the most important thing in football,” emphasized Alonso in advance.
The Spaniard was already rehearsing for an emergency: all five potential African Cup drivers (January 13th to February 11th) around the three regular players Boniface, Edmond Tapsoba and Odilon Kossounou had to sit on the bench. Loss of quality? Think!
Only in the initial phase did the Bochum team hold out with fight and passion, a few days after the outstanding 3-0 win against Union Berlin. Then the Schick show began and the sold-out BayArena was finally put into a festive mood.
After a pass from Wirtz, the Czech went past VfL keeper Manuel Riemann and after a short contact on the ground, he safely converted the penalty. One attack later, he only held out his foot for Jeremie Frimpong’s low cross, and he rose highest for Alejandro Grimaldo’s corner.
It was the sixth goal in the ninth game for the returnee. On the bench, his strike partner Boniface grinned and joked, the fans celebrated wildly to the new goal anthem “Around the world”.
Leverkusen with chances every minute
And the 0:3 was more than happy for VfL after a good initial phase. Tapsoba representative Piero Hincapie failed with a header against his own man (35th), Grimaldo missed the empty goal from a few meters (43rd). Bayer also missed several great opportunities in the second half.
After 67 minutes, Schick’s working day was over. Boniface came for him – and after another brilliant pass from Wirtz, he only needed two minutes to score his tenth goal of the season.