Lienhart receives a yellow-red card
©IMAGO
Bayer Leverkusen remains unbeaten in the Bundesliga under coach Kasper Hjulmand. After the Champions League debacle during the week, the Werkself won 2-0 (1-0) against SC Freiburg, who had recently been in strong form. For Freiburg under coach Julian Schuster, it was the first defeat since the end of August after five unbeaten league games.
In front of 30,210 spectators in the sold-out Leverkusen stadium, Ernest Poku (22nd minute) scored with a precise long-range shot and Edmond Tapsoba (52nd) with a header to secure their fourth Bundesliga victory in a row. With this success, Leverkusen is level on points with third-placed Borussia Dortmund (17 points), just behind RB Leipzig (19 points), while Freiburg is in eleventh place with nine points.
After the bitter 7-2 defeat against Paris Saint-Germain in the premier class, Jarell Quansah and Jonas Hofmann replaced Robert Andrich and Claudio Echeverri in the Bayer starting line-up. Freiburg made four changes compared to the 2-0 home win in the Europa League against FC Utrecht: Lukas Kübler, Jordy Makengo, Lucas Höler and Derry Scherhant started for Christian Günter, Jan-Niklas Beste, Vincenzo Grifo and Yuito Suzuki.
While the Werkself initially seemed a bit sleepy, Freiburg started powerfully and looked for a way forward early on. After a good quarter of an hour, Bayer found more calm in the game and looked for gaps in their own ranks with the ball. Noah Atubolu directed a free kick from just under 20 meters from Alejandro Grimaldo, who had previously been fouled, over the crossbar with a strong save (17th).
Five minutes later, the Freiburg goalkeeper only got his fingertips on the ball when Poku scored his third goal of the season into the bottom right corner after a backheel pass from Aleix Garcia, which was impressive and powerful from a distance. With the lead behind them, the hosts impressed with their ball security and stability.
The Breisgauers didn’t lack commitment, but they did lack ideas. Little came of the game. Derry Scherhant had the best chances of the first half: his free kick near the penalty area went just past the right post (40th), and shortly before the break he put another free kick from a tight angle just over Mark Flekken’s box.
After the restart, the runner-up kept the pressure high. A long-range shot from Aleix Garcia from a central position went just over the goal (49′). That finally hit Tapsoba with a header after Grimaldo had crossed a corner from the right into the six-yard box. 1-0 goalscorer Poku failed immediately afterwards after a dream pass from Aleix Garcia to Atubolu, Arthur put the follow-up shot very close to the post.
Freiburg had to play the last quarter of an hour outnumbered after Philipp Lienhart was sent off with a yellow-red card after a foul on Ibrahim Maza (74′). A little later, loud chants of Patrik Schick echoed through the stadium as the recently injured striker came on as a substitute for Bayer.