Bayer Leverkusen inflicted their first defeat of the Champions League season on Manchester City. The Werkself won 2-0 (1-0) in Manchester on matchday five of the league phase.
Alejandro Grimaldo gave the Bundesliga club the lead on Tuesday evening (23rd minute), Patrik Schick made the final score (54th).
Kasper Hjulmand’s team, which showed a highly disciplined and passionate performance, now has eight points and good cards in the race for the playoffs for the next round. City are still ahead with ten points, but now have to fear for direct qualification.
City’s B-Elf starts with ball dominance
Team manager Guardiola sent a better B team onto the field against Bayer, and compared to the league defeat at Newcastle United (1:2), he made ten changes. Erling Haaland, Phil Foden, Jeremy Doku and Rayan Cherki initially stayed out. Ex-Frankfurt player Omar Marmoush started in the center of the storm.
From the start, the expected picture emerged on the Manchester pitch: the hosts had the ball and took control of the game, Leverkusen tried not to allow any large spaces and to switch quickly. Less than five minutes had been played before Mark Flekken had to show all his skills in the Leverkusen goal: the Dutchman parried a shot from his compatriot Nathan Aké from close range, who finished from the fray after a corner.
Bayer counterattacks dangerously from the right – and Grimaldo scores
Overall, Bayer had great difficulty in controlling possession of the ball to free themselves from the high-rushing Citizens and gain space. After successfully winning the ball, things were much better: Poku always kept Rayan Ait-Nouri busy during Leverkusen’s counterattacks, and the left-back was happy that there was no penalty against him after 17 minutes when he held the Leverkusen player for a relatively long time.
Leverkusen’s Alejandro Grimaldo celebrates his goal with his teammates
Even before the 0:1, Ait-Nouri’s left defensive side was not always consistently occupied: Malik Tillman found Ibrahim Maza, who was running on the right, with a great pass from central midfield, who crossed to Christian Kofane. Kofane somehow laid it off for Grimaldo, who was charging from the left, and he had no trouble using his shooting technique to nail the ball unstoppably flat into the far corner (23′).
Leverkusen sets despite City Triple change after
City tried to hit back quickly, but Leverkusen defended passionately and the hosts’ confidence, which had recently been shattered by league defeats, was evident in the face of being behind again. Nevertheless, Bayer had to be happy to be able to go into the break with the lead: Flekken had to parry a deflected cross from Oscar Bobb (43′) and then stayed long enough to be shot down when Tijani Reijnders shot too centrally (45′).
Leverkusen’s Malik Tillman in a duel with Manchester City’s Tijani Reijnders
As expected, Guardiola reacted and made three substitutions in the second half: Rico Lewis, Bobb and Ait-Nouri went out, and Foden, Doku and Nico O’Reilly came on. With the restart, the hosts’ pressing intensified noticeably. Leverkusen had to be extremely careful not to lose the ball in their own penalty area, but initially didn’t allow any high-caliber players. Bayer remained incredibly efficient at the front, and the Bundesliga club struck for the second time with their second big chance: from the left halffield, the extremely strong Maza crossed with great feeling to Schick’s head, who let the ball slide gently over his skull and extended it past the powerless James Trafford into the goal to make it 0-2 (54′).
Flekken and Co. also defend extremely well against Haaland
In the 65th minute, Haaland and Cherki also came into the game to loud cheers from the home fans, who had meanwhile become noticeably silent – Guardiola had already exhausted all the substitutions. Leverkusen now retreated more and more against the ball; at times the storm duo of Schick and Kofane were less than 25 meters in front of their own goal during City’s long passing relays and closed up space. The Premier League favorites barely found the space or spirit to break up the guests, who defended so disciplinedly. It wasn’t until the 70th minute that Manchester had their first big chance of the second half, when Flekken had the presence of mind to rush out of his goal against Haaland and thus just prevented the goal from being scored.
Even in the final phase, the young three-man chain around Jeanuel Belocian, Loic Badé and Jarell Quansah stood their ground against the hosts who were running, but increasingly seemed to be lacking in ideas, and threw themselves into every ball. The outstanding Flekken parried twice more against Cherki (85th, 87th) and in the end there was a result on the scoreboard that no one had expected, but that Bayer worked hard for with a lot of endurance, discipline, efficiency and a bit of luck had.