Bayer Leverkusen came back strongly after being behind twice at RB Leipzig and defended their lead in the Bundesliga with a 3-2 win on matchday 18.
Piero Hincapie scored the 3-2 winner in injury time on Saturday evening (January 20, 2024) for the Werkself, who thus defended their lead at the top of the table with 48 points. As in the previous week against Augsburg, Bayer 04 celebrated a last-minute victory. The leaders are seven points ahead of FC Bayern Munich, who still have a game to catch up on. The Munich team will face Werder Bremen on Sunday.
Xavi Simons (8th minute) gave the Saxons an early lead, Nathan Tella (47th) rewarded Bayer’s effort with the equalizer in front of 46,529 fans. Jonathan Tah (63′) equalized the renewed RB lead by Lois Openda (56′), before Hincapie (90’+1) made the decision.
Leverkusen’s goalscorer Tah: “Hunger to never give up a game”
“If we win the games like that, we’ll of course be happy to accept it,” said Leverkusen’s Jonas Hofmann about another late winning goal. Goalscorer Tah took the renewed comeback as evidence of “the mentality, the team spirit, the hunger to never give up a game”.
To the live ticker: Leipzig – Leverkusen arrow right 18th matchday arrow right
Leipzig’s fans could initially look forward to Dani Olmo’s comeback to the starting eleven. The injury-prone technician, who was recently put out of action by a sprained shoulder joint, started for the first time since the beginning of September – and most of Leipzig’s attacks came through him.
Simons with the lead for Leipzig
After less than ten minutes, Benjamin Sesko Tah danced past and passed briefly to Xaver Schlager, whose cross landed at Simons. The Dutchman didn’t care that he had his back to the goal. He took the ball with his right, turned and moved to the short corner with his left – unstoppable. A minute later, Sesko slid in on a cross from Olmo and the ball whizzed just past the goal.
Frimpong’s failure shocks Leverkusen
And Bavarian? Had a plan and a system worth seeing, but had to accept the next setbacks defensively. Tah received his fifth yellow card and will miss next week’s game against Borussia Mönchengladbach. After half an hour it was over for Jeremie Frimpong. The extremely important full-back was supported while walking into the dressing room – a painful blow to his lower leg was reported by Bayer. A loss by Frimpong would be extremely bitter for the championship candidate. The Dutch international has scored five goals and seven assists in the league alone and has appeared in every game in the first half of the season.
The loss didn’t change the course of the game much. Leverkusen’s combinations were worth seeing, but the shots were almost exclusively made from afar. Leipzig was waiting for counterattacks and mostly played them through Olmo and Simons – only the return was missing at first. Tella, who came on for Frimpong, took care of that.
Leipzig counters – Bayer again responds quickly
Bayer cleverly shifted the game to the left side of the attack and created a majority through several passes. Alejandro Grimaldo’s sharp cross rushed through the entire RB penalty area, at the other end of which Tella simply pushed in. National player David Raum seemed quite disoriented and didn’t notice Tella behind him.
The game now picked up even more momentum. Florian Wirtz (55th) failed with a shot past RB keeper Janis Blaswich. After the following corner, Leipzig took the lead again via the stations Simons, Olmo and Openda. It only lasted a few minutes. Tah rose highest after a corner and equalized. Schlager felt fouled during the action, but referee Matthias Jöllenbeck saw it differently.
Sports show, January 20, 2024 8:30 p.m
Both teams neutralized each other until injury time, then Bayer once again showed their set-piece strength. A corner slipped through the penalty area to the second post, Hincapie evaded Schlager and tipped the ball over the line for the celebrated winning goal.
Leipzig at VfB, Bayer against Gladbach
RB will face Stuttgart away on matchday 19 (Saturday, January 27th, 2023 at 3:30 p.m.). The Werkself will be challenged again in the Saturday evening game. It’s against Gladbach (6.30 p.m.).