After the show of strength against Inter Milan’s defensive artists, Florian Wirtz and Co. were celebrated by the Leverkusen fans. The Bayer stars had been running against the Italian defensive bulwark for 90 minutes, then Nordi Mukiele found the gap. The German champions are also causing a sensation in the Champions League and can hope for a direct entry into the round of 16 of the premier class.
A week after the cup coup at FC Bayern Munich, Bayer Leverkusen also made an international impact and defeated Inter Milan, who had previously been undefeated in the competition, 1-0 (0-0). With 13 points, the Rhinelanders are in the top group of the field of 36.
“That was a game where we had to be patient. That’s what we were and then we’ll do the same thing at the end,” said Bayer’s national player Jonathan Tah on DAZN and added: “We are in a top position for the last two games. We are pleased that we were able to organize the last Champions League game this year like this.”
In front of 30,210 spectators at the BayArena, Mukiele scored the winning goal for the hosts in the 90th minute. Bayer thus inflicted the Italians’ first defeat and their first goal in the current competition.
“At some point it had to happen that we conceded a goal. This is extremely unfortunate. We didn’t quite play our game. Leverkusen have already let the ball run well, which is a huge amount of work defensively. “We played it too passively at times,” said German Inter defender Yann Aurel Bisseck.
Head coach Leverkusen didn’t have a real center forward in the starting lineup.
As was the case recently, the coach once again relied on Nathan Tella and Florian Wirtz as so-called floating strikers as well as the very offensive winger Jeremie Frimpong. Left-back Piero Hincapie was also higher in the opponent’s half than usual when he had the ball.
Tella, who scored the 1-0 winning goal in the cup at FC Bayern Munich last week, had the chance to take the lead in the third minute after a lightning start, but only hit the crossbar.
Against the defensive specialists from Milan, the hosts were challenged on the offensive and coach Alonso wanted to see courageous attacks. Simone Inzaghi’s team kept a clean sheet in all five of their previous games in the premier class and won four of them.
The three-man chain in front of the former and busy Gladbach goalkeeper Yann Sommer was good, but not always. In addition to Sommer, there were three other former Bundesliga professionals in the Italian champions’ team, Yann Bisseck, Hakan Calhanoglu and Marcus Thuram, who hardly had any dangerous scenes in their own attack. In particular, Thuram, who was substituted early, remained pale and was only rarely able to assert himself.
The well-adjusted Leverkusen team, who dominated the game, repeatedly had chances, often through long-range shots from Alejandro Grimaldo or Granit Xhaka. The transfer of Frimpong, who was well protected at the back by Nordi Mukiele, was good for Bayer’s game, although the right winger was not able to use his speed as often. And in the final phase Mukiele was also there on the offensive and scored the victory.
Leverkusen can now secure the necessary points for direct qualification for the round of 16 in the two games at Atlético Madrid and against Sparta Prague in January.
Belgium
