The rivalry is measured by at least two of the surprises of this Champions League. Especially on the part of the French team, which has to measure its first two victories against the champion of the last Bundesliga, who started as favorites but found itself against an opponent who knows how to do things very well.
Xabi Alonso lived up to expectations and, despite the turnovers, led his team to take the initiative. With Xhaka out of the midfield, Aleix Garcia gained weight in distribution, trying to connect as much as possible with a Florian Wirtz held by the wand, something he made clear in the first 45 minutes. Not only because he was in charge of putting Leverkusen in front, receiving between the lines and finishing without nerves (24′), but because Bayer’s best games were born from his boots. Even on a personal level, as a work of art almost ended after leaving up to three rivals in a span of land, but this time Bizot got it right and stopped it.
Brest showed little in attack. He seemed to agree with those who thought that what had been achieved so far was more a result of chance than merit but Lees-Melou, almost out of nowhere, hit a volley past Kovar to level the score (39′) moments before the goal. A goal that completely turned the mood on the pitch in the second half, where the French stepped forward and dominated at times, nullifying Leverkusen’s virtues.
To such an extent that Alonso was forced to make changes to regain control, bringing on Xhaka, Frimpong and Adli, although the latter did not last long as after a strong tackle by Coulibaly he had to be replaced. It did not have as much of an effect as desired. Things were balanced in a rivalry where they were canceled out between the two, with almost no scoring opportunities. Tah, from a corner kick, gave Brest a scare, who did the same with the final touch on a play by Balde in space that he didn’t know how to exploit.
Leverkusen claimed two penalties along the way. The first was due to a handball from Lees-Melou when he went to the ground, and almost in stoppage time, with Hofmann falling after Coulibaly went down, taking a huge risk. VAR took the decision, several minutes, and finally decided nothing, to the anger of Xabi Alonso who ended up furious with the referee of the match.
match lineup
40
7
22
20
5
44
45
8
19
10
17
17
23
20
24
4
3
19
25
14
7
10
Roudourou Municipal Stadium
Matej Kovar17
Nordi Mukiele23
72′
Alex Grimaldo20
38′
94′
Alex Garcia24
Jonathan Tah4
91′
Piero Hincapié3
82′
Nathan Tella19
62′
82′
Exequiel Palacios25
62′
71′
Patrick Schick14
62′
72′
Jonas Hoffmann7
65′
Florian Wirtz10
23′
73′
Replacements
Lukás Hrádecky1
Niklas Lomb36
Edmond Tapsoba12
72′
82′
Arthur13
Jeremie Frimpong30
62′
71′
82′
Jeanuël Belocian44
Robert Andrich8
72′
Granite Xhaka34
62′
97′
Martin Terrier11
80′
Amine Adli21
62′
80′
65′
Francis Onyeka40
71′
83′
coach
Eric Roy
Xabi Alonso
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.
