Madrid (dpa) – The stadium celebrated its heroes from Atlético, the Bayer professionals could hardly believe their misfortune. The German football champions had the game in Madrid under control for a long time before coach Xabi Alonso's team gave up the game in the cauldron of the Estadio Metropolitano and ultimately failed in the test of nerves.
“It hurts extremely, we allowed ourselves to be provoked. It's really important to keep a cool head,” said Bayer's defense chief Jonathan Tah after the 1:2 (1:0) in a heated duel at Atlético Madrid.
Bayer now urgently needs a home win against Sparta Prague on Wednesday next week to maintain their chance of a place among the top eight teams. In front of 70,000 spectators, Julian Alvarez (52nd and 90th minutes) scored the goals for Madrid, Piero Hincapie (45th + 1) scored for Leverkusen.
Alonso, who has to do without the long-term injuries Jeanuel Belocian (torn cruciate ligament), Amine Adli (broken fibula) and Martin Terrier (Achilles tendon), made five changes to his team after the 3-1 win against Borussia Mönchengladbach. Matej Kovar made his fourth appearance in the current competition after games at Stade Brest, RB Salzburg and Inter Milan.
Only send reserves at first
Somewhat surprisingly, Patrik Schick initially stayed on the bench. The Czech has scored 12 goals in the last eight Bundesliga games, but he also needed a short break. Victor Boniface, who was injured for more than two months, was back in the squad for the first time.
Bayer's head coach, who was a player for Atlético's city rivals Real Madrid for five years and knows coach Diego Simeone's style of play very well, relied on defensive stability with a lot of ball possession and also good moves on the offensive. Nathan Tella, Florian Wirtz and Granit Xhaka failed because of goalkeeper Jan Oblak. Tella even scored to make it 1-0, but the crosser Alejandro Grimaldo was offside.
-Hincapie scores to make it 1-0
After a video check in the 25th minute, Atlético's midfielder received a red card for a nasty foul by Pablo Barrios on Leverkusen's Nordi Mukiele in the increasingly rough game against an unpleasant opponent. In injury time of the first half, Hincapie took advantage of a perfect cross from Mukiele to make it 1-0.
In the heated game, the hosts did not give up despite being outnumbered and, after a counterattack by Antoine Griezmann, scored an equalizer through Alvarez, who could no longer be stopped by Leverkusen's defense chief Jonathan Tah and pushed the ball past Kovar into the goal.
The Italian referee Davide Massa had his hands full in the Metropolitano cauldron and diligently handed out yellow cards. Goalscorer Hincapie also said goodbye early with a yellow-red card. In the end, Alvarez scored in the 90th minute to give the hosts the win.
© dpa-infocom, dpa:250121-930-351297/2
