Bayer Leverkusen defeats Borussia Mönchengladbach 3-1

The Bayer Leverkusen fans quickly dug out the banner that they had brought especially for this occasion. “Abolish video evidence!” was written on it, supplemented by a critical comment: “You are making a fool of yourself.” As soon as they had unrolled the banner, the supporters insulted the German Football Association in chorus.

As committed as they were to staging their fundamentalist protest, this time the just struggle was just as out of place. Referee Harm Osmers didn’t need a television image to award the penalty because of a handball by Julian Weigl; he spontaneously pointed to the spot and then simply asked for assurances over the telephone that he was correct – although Weigl and his Gladbach colleagues objected one, but that didn’t change anything. And in the next moment, the Leverkusen fans also stopped their complaints against the video justice because they were busy celebrating Florian Wirtz’s penalty goal, which was obtained via video evidence, to make it 2-0.

After the national player’s second goal, the visitors to the arena were almost certain that the home team would win the game against Borussia Mönchengladbach. Yes, a 2-0 is only a two-goal lead, but Borussia met their opponents that evening in a state of helplessness and humility. The 3-0 by Patrick Schick (74th) once again expressed the difference between the home side and the guests, and with Tim Kleindienst’s 1:3 in stoppage time, the deserving loser received a surprising consolation prize.

Leverkusen is worried about the injured attacker Terrier

“Overall we can be happy with the result, but of course we would have liked to keep a clean sheet,” said Wirtz, an appropriate comment on the game. This 3-1 marks the eleventh competitive win in a row for the German champions. Nevertheless, there was also gloom at Bayer 04: French attacker Martin Terrier was seriously injured after a few minutes of the game without any intervention from an opponent. The first guess was an Achilles tendon injury.

If Bayern sat in front of the television in Munich and hoped that their colleagues from Mönchengladbach would provide a little support against their title rivals, they probably soon gave up hoping. Maybe even switched to a different program out of frustration. The ball remained the property of Leverkusen, and although Borussia defended their penalty area somewhat effectively, especially with the hard-working defensive specialists Ko Itakura and Nico Elvedi, it was foreseeable that the fortress would eventually fall. “It’s of course difficult to keep your concentration when you’re running after the ball for so long,” Julian Weigl later said on the Sky microphone, showing that the Gladbachers were also aware of their problems. There were no relieving counterattacks.

Despite their superiority, Leverkusen were unable to create many chances to score, but the critical moment was to come. Philipp Sander lost the ball to the Brazilian defender Arthur after a throw-in in Leverkusen’s half, and then things progressed in a stroke: Granit to make it 1-0. Itakura had no need to be ashamed of being played like this: tunnels are one of Wirtz’s specialties.

Mr. This time Wirtz was not only at the meeting point on time, but was once again the best and the dominant player on the pitch. He also played his part in making it 3-0 by presenting the ball perfectly to Schick for a shot. When Alonso took Wirtz, Alonso had basically declared the game over, which was good news for Gladbach Borussia.