Bayer Leverkusen has taken another big step towards the first championship in the club’s history. Thanks to the 2-0 (1-0) win against VfL Wolfsburg, the team of coach ten points.
Nathan Tella (37th) scored the opening goal after brilliant preparatory work by Alejandro Grimaldo, then Florian Wirtz (86th) increased the lead for the leaders, who had been in the majority for a long time, and celebrated their 21st win of the season (a club record) – as many as Bayern in the last year’s championship season overall.
The record champions had shot down FSV Mainz 05 8-1 the day before and hoped that Leverkusen would slip up – ultimately in vain.
Instead, the Werkself continued to collect records: with 25 unbeaten league games in a row, Alonso’s team surpassed its own record from the 2009/10 season under Jupp Heynckes.
Wolfsburg was outnumbered for a long time after Jenz-Rot
After the yellow-red card for Moritz Jenz, Wolfsburg played outnumbered from the 28th minute onwards and remains in 13th place. The lead over 1. FC Köln in the relegation zone is only seven points for coach Niko Kovac’s team.
The Bayer fans greeted their derby winners from the previous week (2-0 in Cologne) euphorically with pyrotechnics and fireworks when the bus arrived. Compared to the lucky 2-2 draw in the first leg of the round of 16 of the Europa League on Thursday at Qarabag Agdam, Alonso rotated back and relied on Granit Xhaka, Florian Wirtz and Patrik Schick, who had been spared for a long time in Baku, from the start.
“We need good guys,” Alonso emphasized after the longest European Cup trip in the club’s history and a total of 6,400 kilometers by air in 56 hours. And there was little sign of fatigue right from the start. EM hopeful Wirtz in particular turned up the heat, hit the post (22nd) and could only be stopped by fouls. Jenz (12th) was shown a yellow card early on after a tactical jersey pull – only to have to leave the field a little later after kicking Schick with the traffic light card.
Wirtz meets by direct acceptance
Kovac reacted, bringing on central defender Sebastiaan Bornauw for his only nominal striker Jonas Wind – but the defensive bulwark only lasted just under nine minutes. Grimaldo left his opponent Lovro Majer standing with a backheel trick, Tella had an easy time of it after the chip header. In the stands, numerous cardboard championship bowls were raised towards the evening sky.
In the last 15 duels between Bayer and Wolfsburg, the hosts had never won – but it really didn’t look like that in the BayArena, which was full except for the visitors’ block, at halftime. The favorite restricted the offensively harmless guests in the final third, but remained without any really top-class chances. So at least the result remained exciting – until Wirtz struck with a direct acceptance.