26′
15:57
Leverkusen is in front of the goal again! Kossounou drives the ball, shields the ball superbly and only passes it to Frimpong on the right just before the penalty area. He turns to shoot, but fails at the bottom left of the goalkeeper’s leg!
25′
3:55 p.m
After the hit, Bonucci sits on the bench and holds the back of his thigh. Robin Knoche replaces the Italian.
24′
3:55 p.m
Substitution at 1. FC Union Berlin: Robin Knoche
24′
3:55 p.m
Substitution at 1. FC Union Berlin: Leonardo Bonucci
23′
15:53
Great for Bayer Leverkusen, 1-0 by Álex Grimaldo
Grimaldo opens the door! That’s disgusting! Wirtz briefly passes for the new Spanish international, who is not attacked for a moment. He then takes measurements from the left corner of the box and circles the ball over Rønnow, who has no chance, into the right angle! The next dream goal for Álex Grimaldo!
20′
15:51
The Werkself freed themselves from their own half in a clean manner, and at the same time the Iron team retreated. Leverkusen practically has to outplay two five-man chains here.
19′
3:50 p.m
The guests move up and push all Leverkusen players, except for Boniface, into their own half. That hasn’t happened that often so far.
17′
3:49 p.m
Suddenly Timo Gerach shows one Penalty because Jaeckel is said to have blocked the ball with his arms in the scene before. The repetition quickly shows that Jaeckel had his arms spread wide, but was able to block with his head. He collects accordingly VAR the decision.
16′
3:46 p.m
Tah gets a header! When taking a corner, the defender is completely free at the second post. At the last moment, Jaeckel jumps towards him with his arms spread out and blocks to the next corner.
15′
3:46 p.m
At the last moment, Laïdouni is there! Before that, Álex Grimaldo is sent to the baseline on the left, from which he plays into the backcourt. Boniface takes a shot when Laïdouni clears it centimeters in front of him!
12′
3:44 p.m
Suddenly Rønnow gives the ball away! When he tries to hit the ball directly, he hits Boniface’s feet. This time the striker shows an overview and passes it out to Wirtz on the left, but he dribbles past the goalkeeper who is storming out again. The ball bounces from Wirtz’s nimble legs into the goal.
11′
3:42 p.m
Next graduation for Boniface! This time he is served by Wirtz before he shoots just inside the penalty area. The leather rolls out to the right again. It’s not the striker’s game yet.
9′
3:40 p.m
With the long pass to Fofana, Hrádecký is challenged for the first time and intercepts the pass on the edge of the penalty area. Then you quickly go to the other side. Boniface has a lot of space, but takes a hasty shot a good 20 meters from the goal. Hofmann is annoyed when the ball rolls far to the right.
8th’
3:39 p.m
Boniface goes into a header duel against Jaeckel, but the Nigerian comes up short. Jaeckel gets to the ball in front of him and clears the ball at five.
7′
3:37 p.m
It’s the expected game from the start. The Berliners retreat far and let Leverkusen look for gaps. They would certainly like to do some counterattacks, but that hasn’t happened yet. It’s a quiet start.
4′
3:34 p.m
After an initial short execution, Álex Grimaldo hits the ball far towards the second post, but his teammate cannot reach the pass. Goal kick for Union.
2′
3:33 p.m
Rønnow is almost outplayed with a back pass from Jaeckel. With a tackle he clears the ball for a corner.
1′
3:31 p.m
The ball rolls in the BayArena. Leverkusen kicks off. Let’s go on a wild ride!
15:28
Under cloudy skies and the sun slowly setting, both teams step out onto the BayArena lawn. It will not be long!
15:21
Timo Gerach travels to Leverkusen in only his fifth Bundesliga appearance. The 36-year-old Landauer is assisted by linesmen Florian Heft and Dominik Schaal. The VAR, on the other hand, is led by the highly experienced Bastian Dankert.
15:13
The previous duels do not speak for the FCU. Union only celebrated one win in eleven duels against the Werkself. In the games at the BayArena, Leverkusen won four times and only drew two. Last season, B04 achieved the first real demonstration of Xabi Alonso’s football against Union. Interestingly, Leverkusen left the relegation places thanks to the 5-0 win, while Union had to give up their lead in the table. Is history repeating itself today?
3:05 p.m
With a view to the important game in Naples, Urs Fischer has little room for rotation. Only Rani Khedira is missing from the Iron team’s squad, but that’s because the six-man is out with a red card suspension. He will be replaced by Alex Král, who has already stepped in for Khedira during his teammate’s injury break.
14:57
Xabi Alonso rotated a lot against Qarabağ. After a few interviews with the coach, Lukáš Hrádecký should be happy to be back in goal and replace Matěj Kovář. Odilon Kossounou, Jeremie Frimpong, Exequiel Palacios and Jonas Hofmann also return to the starting eleven. Josip Stanišić, Robert Andrich, Nathan Tella and Amine Adli are on the bench for now.
2:48 p.m
It would be fitting for football if Union Berlin of all people caused the surprise. For 13 competitive games without a win, the Iron Men have now completely lost themselves. What was disproportionately successful in recent years is now no longer successful at all. At least that was the case until last Wednesday. Suddenly Union came back with a 1-1 draw against Napoli’s Diego Maradona. Maybe it’s the feeling of success that causes the pendulum to swing in the other direction again.
2:39 p.m
Back to the top of the table! The Werkself’s approach could hardly be any different. After all, the Rhinelanders have so far stringed together one victory after another. However, the impact is already getting closer: It was pretty close against Wolfsburg three weeks ago, then Freiburg sniffed at a late equalizer and Hoffenheim also came back from going behind. During the week it took until injury time before the decisive goal was scored against Qarabağ FK. Is Bayer 04 due today?
14:28
The duel of opposites! 16 games without defeat meet 13 games without a win. Bayer Leverkusen welcomes 1. FC Union Berlin. Welcome!