After the big news announced yesterday that Xabi Alonso would stay at Bayer Leverkusen, Die Werkself did what they do best and came from behind to win.
Leverkusen dominated the ball in the first half but struggled to break down Hoffenheim. Then, out of the blue (no pun intended), Hoffenheim countered and who else but Maximilian Beier opened the scoring in the game. The highly rated 21-year-old finished playing a one-two with strike partner Wout Weghorst before cooly finishing past Lukas Hradecky. Leverkusen had their best chances at the end of the half but went in at half-time 1-0 down.
The second half continued in the same trend as the first with Leverkusen continuing to dominate but unable to conger up anything. As time began to run out it looked like Die Werkself’s unbeaten run would finally come to an end as Hoffenheim goalkeeper Oliver Baumann continued to make save after save, however, the breakthrough came in the 88th minute when Robert Andrich’s bouncing shot beat his international teammate.
Then Leverkusen increased the pressure to search for a win before three minutes later Patrik Schick converted a Nathan Tella cut back securing the three points.
Leverkusen now turn their attention to the DFB-Pokal where they host Rhein rivals Fortuna Düsseldorf on Tuesday before a trip to Berlin next week.
Bayer Leverkusen XI:
Lukas Hradecky (6), Edmond Tapsoba (6), Jonathan Tah (7), Piero Hincapié (6), Jeremie Frimpong (5), Robert Andrich (7), Granit Xhaka (6), Alejandro Grimaldo (6), Jonas Hofmann (5), Florian Wirtz (7), Patrik Schick (7)
Others: Amine Adli (6), Borja Iglesias (5), Nathan Tella (-), Josip Stanisic (-)
Hoffenheim XI:
Oliver Baumann (7), Ozan Kabak (5), Florian Grillitsch (6), Tim Drexler (5), Pavel Kaderabek (5), Anton Stach (5), Umut Tohumcu (5), David Juraasek (5), Andrej Kramaric (5), Wout Weghorst (5), Maximilian Beier (6)
Others: Grischa Prömel (5), Dennis Geiger (5), Ihlas Bebou (5), Marius Bülter (5)
GGFN | Jack Meenan
