In their second game of the Champions League, Bayer Leverkusen were made to work for their win against AC Milan at the BayArena.
Leverkusen were the better side in the first half and really kept Milan in their own half, but they were never able to full take advantage of this dominance. Victor Boniface had a goal disallowed for offside but Mike Maignan stood strong and managed to withstand Leverkusen’s efforts.
The second half started much like the first with Leverkusen having most of the possession. The breakthrough came when a nice Leverkusen move saw Jeremie Frimpong’s effort partied into the path of Boniface to make it 1-0. That goal opened up the game and Milan finally were able to have a period of dominance. Chances from Tijani Reijnders and Youssoufa Fofana forced saved from Lukas Hradecky.
Milan continued to have the better chances with Theo Hernandez hitting the crossbar and Alvaro Morata’s rebound just missing the goal. Ruben Loftus-Cheek would again force Hradecky to make a save. However, Leverkusen would ride the storm and win 1-0.
The early season discussion surrounding Leverkusen was their defensive issues, however, after their 1-1 draw with Bayern Munich at the weekend as well as their performance tonight, it has shown that these issues have been worked on. Leverkusen probably should have had a bigger lead if Frimpong had been more clinical in his finishing but Die Werkself were able to fend off Milan’s attacks with the help of Hradecky’s saves.
Leverkusen’s next game in the Champions League will be in Brittany against Brest.
Bayer Leverkusen XI:
Lukas Hradecky (8), Edmond Tapsoba (6), Jonathan Tah (6), Piero Hincapié (5), Jeremie Frimpong (6), Granit Xhaka (6), Aleix Garcia (6), Alejandro Grimaldo (6), Florian Wirtz (6), Amine Adli (6), Victor Boniface (7)
Others: Martin Terrier (5), Robert Andrich (6), Exequiel Palacios (5), Jeanuël Belocian (-), Nathan Tella (-)
GGFN Man of the Match: Lukas Hradecky (8)
Attacking-wise, Victor Boniface was the standout for Leverkusen, the Nigerian has continued his impressive form and away from his goal was a handful for the Milan defence before his substitution. However, it was Hradecky who secured the win.
The Fin made several impressive key saves from Loftus-Cheek, Reijnders and Fofana to keep out Milan and without him, the visitors could have easily equalised or even won the game with their dominance in the latter half of the game.
GGFN | Jack Meenan
