Bayer Leverkusen and Werder Bremen share four goals in 2-2 draw at the BayArena
Bayer Leverkusen and Werder Bremen shared four goals at the BayArena in a 2-2 draw which saw both sides squander the lead.
Bayer Leverkusen 2-2 Werder Bremen
Goals: 1-0 Toprak (o.g. 4'), 1-1 Rashica (40'), 1-2 Klaassen (48'), 2-2 Alario (58')
Leverkusen made a flying start with Ömer Toprak doing his former club a favour by turning Kerem Demirbay's corner into his own goal in the fourth minute, while under pressure from Sven Bender. Bender's involvement in the game lasted only 20 minutes more, though, before he was forced off with a hamstring injury. Kevin Volland was then denied a second goal after drifting into an offside position when he got the final touch to Lucas Alario's header which may have gone in without the Leverkusen forward's help, before Josh Sargent flashed a first-time effort from Milot Rashica's cross just wide at the culmination of a quick counterattack. Rashica then brought the guests level with a shot which took a wicked deflection off Aleksandar Dragovic's thigh to loop over Lukas Hradecky five minutes before the interval.
It was Bremen's turn to make a flying start to the second half with the irrepressible Sargent teeing up Davy Klaassen to pick his spot in the bottom corner from the edge of the penalty area, and give the guests the lead. In a topsy-turvy encounter, the next change in the scoreline was just around the corner, however, and it was Alario who brought Leverkusen back on level terms when he turned Karim Bellarabi's low cross inside Jiri Pavlenka's near post. Alario then saw a looping header come back off the crossbar before VAR ruled out what Alario thought was his second of the evening. Bremen saw a late penalty appeal waved away as they almost got the final word in a dramatic draw at the BayArena.
Watch: Sargent: "The way we're going is good"
Match stats
- Toprak's own-goal provided Leverkusen with their earliest goal of the season.
- All of Klaassen's three Bundesliga goals this season have come away from home.
- Rashica scored in his third straight away appearance.
- Bayer are on an eight-match unbeaten run at home in the league (W4, D4), which is their best streak since 2017 when they went nine without defeat.
- Davy Klaassen has had a hand in at least one goal in each of Werder’s five away games this season (six in total).
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Line-ups
Leverkusen: Hradecky – Weiser, Tah, S. Bender (Dragovic 24'), Weiser, L. Bender (c) – Baumgartlinger (Pohjanpalo 89'), Demirbay (Paulinho 62') – Bellarabi, Amiri, Volland – Alario
Unused subs: Özcan, Retsos, Diaby, Stanilewicz, Azhil
Out: Aranguiz (metatarsal/thigh), Bailey (torn muscle), Havertz (ill), Sinkgraven (thigh)
Coach: Peter Bosz
Bremen: Pavlenka – Gebre Selassie, Toprak, Groß, Friedl – M. Eggestein, Sahin, Klaassen (c) – Bittencourt (Bargfrede 90+2'), Sargent (J. Eggestein 86'), Rashica (Goller 80')
Unused subs: Kapino, Lang, Veljkovic, Langkamp,, Woltemade
Out: Augustinsson (knee), Bartels (knee), Füllkrug (torn ACL), Möhwald (knee), Moisander (calf), Osako (thigh), Pizarro (knee)
Coach: Florian Kohfeldt
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