レバークーゼン vs バイエルン「ブンデスリーガのハイテンポサッカーが垣間見えた試合」
今回はブンデスリーガ現在5位のレバークーゼン対トップのバイエルンの試合をレビューしました。
Before the game...
Leverkusen at the 5th, and Bayern at the 1st on the Bundesliga table.
The gap between the leaders and the runners-up, Dortmund, is seven points. So, if the home team can win this match, then the league comes back on again!
Leverkusen are the team to have defeated the champions the last time at the opponents' soil back in Dec, 2019. Besides, they are chasing the Champions League spot.
Unfortunately, the wonder kid Kai Haverts is not on the pitch; he is out injured.
First Half
The game started with the crowd-chanting noise added artificially.
When having a look at the both teams formation, one thing is well-noticeable. They both set the team so tight and compact around the halfway line.
Of course when the opponent gets dominant, they retreat. But nonetheless, they try to set themselves so compact.
This inevitably leaves space behind, and the first team which exploited were Leverkusen.
At the 9th minute, Alario went through the Bayern’s defense unmarked and scored. This chance came out of nowhere; Leverkusen just took a throw-in around the the halfway line on the left side. It certainly looked nothing but an ordinary scene.
Due to the lead, the home team got a little less offensive and shifted to counterattacking. Now, Bayern have less space to attack. However, they pass around smoothly around the final third, attract defenders to the middle, and make some space on the left and right.
They whipped a lot of prosperous looking crosses in. Now it seems Bayern are about to score.
Then the goal for away team came all of a sudden. Just a few minutes before the 30th minute, Diaby lost the ball by the centre circle and this turnover led to Coman having a 1-on-1 opportunity. He calmly finished this.
Since the first goal, Bayern got so dominant at the pitch and sometimes Leverkusen created some half-chances due to their good switch of play, yet certainly Bayern looked more threatening.
Just before the half-time, the second for the Bavarians came from another counterattacking with Goretzka’s great finish outside of the penalty area. His fine form has been continuing from the resumption on.
The home team were hanging in there even after the conceded the first goal, but the after 1-2, they got steamed off. And they gave up another one at the very end of the first half.
It was a long ball from Kimmich to Gnabry. He looped over Hradecky and found the net.
The home side looked promising when the game started, so this scoreline should be very disappointing for them at this time.
Second half
Leverkusen changed 3 men to change the pace.
This half started livelily. Both teams got a couple of half chances, but not clear-cut ones.
Like the first half, the first 10 to 15 minutes both teams played out very well. But soon Bayern geared up and got dominant around the 60th minute.
As expected, the dangerous crosses Bayern kept whipping in came finally to fruition at the 66th. This time Lewandowski finished the well-placed cross from the right. The game virtually over now.
Right before the final whistle, Wirtz got him a consolation goal, but the game ended 4-2 for the champions.
After the game...
Teams in Bundesliga set their formation quite high up even against Bayern.
I watched the matches Bayern against Frankfurt, Dortmund and Leverkusen; they all tried to press high and leave some space behind.
It is very thrilling to watch and very enjoyable, yet it should make the life easy for the Champions.
One thing, in this match both Müller and Lewandowski got a yellow card. And they won’t be able to play the upcoming one due to suspension.
The opponent will be Mönchengladbach, placed the 4th on the table.
They have to win to secure the CL spot for the next season. The situation is quite similar to Leverkusen’s one today. Hopefully they can show a tiny bit more resilience and lessens the gap between the top 2 to 4 points.
