Heaty game – Leverkusen wins wild duel with Hoffenheim

Bundesliga, 20th matchday

Heated game in Leverkusen: Alonso-Elf stays on Bavaria

The double winner dominates TSG Hoffenheim over long distances of the game. A key moment changes the course of the game – the emotions cook up.

Bayer Leverkusen stays on Bundesliga leader Bayern Munich. The double winner won 3-1 (2-0) against TSG Hoffenheim at the end of the 20th match day on Sunday evening and is now again six points behind the German record champions.

Victor Boniface (15th), Jeremie Frimpong (19th) and Patrik Schick (51st) met for the team of coach Xabi Alonso. Hoffenheim only found the game better in the final phase, also due to yellow-red for Leverkusens Alex Grimaldo (61.). A minute later, Gift Orban met for the connection. In heated last minutes, however, the guests could not get closer.

Referee Robin Braun caused a premiere, who for the first time in a Bundesliga stadium declared the audience a decision revised by the video referee (you can read more about this here). In the 22nd minute he whistled a penalty for Leverkusen, but overlooked a away position by Nathan Tella, which later had to be replaced injured.

Despite the burst transfer from Boniface to Al-Nassr, Bayer coach Alonso had ordered the Nigerian to the starting eleven. “He needs playing time. He is focused and we need him in the second half of the season. We need the whole squad,” Alonso at DAZN explained the attacker’s first start-up in three months.

And as so often against Hoffenheim, Boniface justified the trust placed in him and used a nice steep pass from Grimaldo without humor after a quarter of an hour. It was the sixth scorer for Boniface in his third game against Hoffenheim. The lead was preceded by a catastrophic playback error by Hoffenheim’s David Jurasek.

Just four minutes later, Grimaldo sent Frimpong alone towards TSG goal with an even more shaped pass. Guest goalkeeper Luca Philipp was again left behind. The fact that it didn’t really become bitter at the break was due to the intervention of the video chef (Var) after Braun’s decision on a penalty after a foul Juraseks on Tella.

Then the game flattened out. With the two-goal lead, Leverkusen took the pace out of the game three days before the cup derby against 1. FC Köln. The only excitement until the change of sides was Tella’s injury. For the Nigerian, Emiliano Buendia, who was borrowed from Aston Villa last week, came to his Bundesliga debut.

However, this did not last long. The Argentinian had to get off the field after almost 70 minutes for tactical reasons due to Grimaldo’s dismissal. The Mario Hermoso Bundesliga air, who was also hired in winter, also sniffed.

If the Schick, who had substituted for Boniface, had made the preliminary decision just a few minutes after the restart, it would have been exciting again after Grimaldo’s yellow-red card. After the Spaniard’s foul before he was shown, Orban scored after the resulting free kick. Against ten Leverkuseners, the guests could no longer develop any significant pressure.