Xabi Alonso’s Bayer Leverkusen continued their high-flying return to the Bundesliga and beat bottom-placed Mainz 3-0 at home on Saturday in a match where they did not shine and where in some passages they had a lot difficulty but the end is fixed. based on creativity and effectiveness.
Leverkusen’s first arrival ended in the net. Jeremy Frimpong got in behind the Mainz defense on the right wing and launched a cross that found Victor Boniface and defender Sepp Van der Berg ended up scoring an own goal when trying to block.
Until that moment, the 18th minute had already been played, Leverkusen had many difficulties against an opponent who often outplayed them in individual duels for the ball.
Leverkusen had the ball but struggled to produce a goal and the game was played closer to the center line than Mainz’s area.
At the end of the first half, the statistics sheet showed a clear advantage for Leverkusen in terms of ball possession – 60 percent – but in terms of shots on goal, Mainz was ahead 5 to 1 .
Despite the own goal, Mainz had two good finishes: a header from Onisiwo in the 24th minute and a shot from outside the area by Druda in the 30th minute that goalkeeper Lukasz Hradecky had to save.
The second half started in a similar tone to that which had characterized the first and in the 54th minute Mainz had a good chance to equalize with a header from Onisiwo which Hradecky had to deflect for a corner kick.
However, Leverkusen found the second in the 58th minute with a free-kick goal from Grimaldo. That was Leverkusen’s second shot. The third, in the 65th minute, also ended up in the net.
The play started with Adli overflowing the left who threw a death pass for Jonas Hoffmann to score inside the area with his right foot.
The second goal was almost the sentence and the third ended up undoing Mainz who in the end could not take advantage of the good work they did in the first half.
Even the fourth goal for Leverkusen was close. Boniface got it in the 75th minute when he faced only goalkeeper Robin Zentner but lost one-on-one.
Source: La Verdad
I’m Rose Herman and I work as an author for Today Times Live. My expertise lies in writing about sports, a passion of mine that has been with me since childhood. As part of my job, I provide comprehensive coverage on everything from football to tennis to golf.
