The Werkself are on the road to victory early on against the second division team. Patrik Schick takes advantage of his starting eleven chance.
Leverkusen – Bayer Leverkusen easily mastered their compulsory task against SV Elversberg and easily reached the round of 16 of the DFB Cup. Thanks to lightning starter Patrik Schick, the double winner prevailed on Tuesday evening on his mission to defend his title 3-0 (3-0) against the second division team, which was overwhelmed, especially at the beginning, and won the eighth cup game in a row across all seasons. The last defeat came in the first round in the summer of 2022 – in Elversberg (3:4).
“We did very well in the first half, in the second we could have shown a little more ball control and dominance,” said Leverkusen’s sports director Simon Rolfes on Sky: “Actually, we don’t want to give the ball to the opponent so much. But we’ve moved on, everything’s fine.”
Double packer Schick (2nd, 9th) and Aleix Garcia (36th) with a dream free kick scored the victory for the Werkself, who got rid of the frustration of the past week. Recently there were only two disappointing draws in the Champions League (1:1 at Brest) and Bundesliga (2:2 in Bremen). Before the cracking duel against runner-up VfB Stuttgart on Friday (8.30 p.m./DAZN), some top performers such as exceptional Florian Wirtz and goalscorer Victor Boniface only made short appearances.
Despite being clear favorites, Bayer coach Xabi Alonso had warned against the Saarlanders before the game. “We know it’s like a final,” said the Spaniard: “We win or it’s time to stop.” However, the Werkself immediately nipped the guests’ hopes of a sensation in the bud.
Leverkusen took the lead with their first advance: Nathan Tella crossed flatly from the left, and Schick easily slotted in in the middle. And the Czech, who was in the starting line-up instead of the rested Boniface and took advantage of his chance, followed up: A cross from Jonas Hofmann was only inadequately blocked by SVE keeper Nicolas Kristof, Schick was in the right position and scored from close range without any problems to make it 2-0 . After just ten minutes the game seemed to be decided.
As a result, the Saarlanders got into the game a little better, but Bayer controlled the game and initially didn’t allow anything in the recently shaky defense. On the other side, Garcia then increased the score beautifully: the Spaniard curled a free kick from 25 meters perfectly into the corner.
A little later, Bayer’s cup keeper Matej Kovar was also able to distinguish himself: The 24-year-old first parried a free kick from Muhammed Damar (40th) and then a long-range shot from Elias Baum (44th).
Even after the break, the underdog looked for a way into the offensive, but couldn’t get the ball over the line from the hustle and bustle after a corner from close range (57th). Bayer then managed their lead and Elversberg continued to run.
Photo: © AFP/SID/INA FASSBENDER
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