Wounded and weary, Bayer Leverkusen rise again at the death

It felt like one of those rare occasions when everyone let their hair down. Xabi Alonso, usually so poised, ran along the touchline and slipped, just about avoiding a crash to earth in the wild aftermath Bayer Leverkusen’s winner over RB Leipzig, as Piero Hincapié snuck in at the back post to covert another sublime set piece from the inevitable Álex Grimaldo.

Hopefully the coach had found more grip on his slippers by Sunday afternoon, when Leverkusen’s weekend had a coda they could not have dared to dream of. Werder Bremen, who had failed to beat Bayern Munich in 32 attempts in all competitions since September 2008 (managing just three draws in that time), won at Allianz Arena to allow Die Werkself a seven-point lead at the top.

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Can we really call Leverkusen’s winner a rare occasion, despite Alonso’s understandably feverish reaction to Hincapié’s decisive goal? Maybe not anymore. This was a second successive stoppage-time goal on a second successive Saturday to win a second successive Bundesliga game on the road since the campaign resumed in 2024.

There was definite déjà vu for Werkself watchers in a game that for long spells resembled the last one they hadn’t won, the 1-1 draw in Stuttgart in mid-December. The frisson was present in the opening stages at Red Bull Arena in which Leipzig, stung by last week’s loss at home to Eintracht Frankfurt, really went for their unbeaten visitors. Marco Rose has enviable quality at his disposal and perhaps the jewel of his current collection, Xavi Simons, gave the home side the lead, lifting the ball like a puppet on a string around a bemused Florian Wirtz and Exequiel Palacios before smashing a left footer low past Lukas Hradecky. In the period before and after that goal, with Benjamin Sesko causing all sorts of problems for the usually composed Jonathan Tah, Leverkusen were hanging on by their fingernails.

Like in Stuttgart, though, the visitors came out for the second half reinvigorated, performing with the sort of urgency that have suggested a half-time rocket from a less urbane head coach. Leverkusen were quickly level, with substitute Nathan Tella gobbling up an inviting Grimaldo delivery and even though the momentum was briefly interrupted by a Leipzig goal from a counter-attack, orchestrated by Simons and finished by Loïs Openda, Alonso’s team were not to be stopped. Tah equalised from a corner to set the table for Hincapié’s late heroics.

So here Leverkusen were again, showing their swagger and their sang-froid, but it was more than that. Tella was on because Jeremie Frimpong, almost as influential on the right this season as his counterpart Grimaldo has been on the left, had pulled up with a thigh injury and had been forced from the field. His first-half entry was sudden enough that he hadn’t had a chance to warm up or, it transpired, get properly dressed. “I’d forgotten my jersey in the dressing room,” he sheepishly told ESPN afterwards. “Someone had to get it for me.” A visibly-annoyed Alonso had forgiven Tella by the time he was asked about it later on, singing the former Southampton player’s praises. “Today it was a Topspiel [‘Big Match’] and coming onto the pitch after 30 minutes and getting to the necessary intensity is not easy,” Alonso emphasised. “It was a very good game from him.”

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How Alonso must thank his lucky stars that Tella, who only made his Nigeria debut in November, wasn’t called up for the African Cup of Nations due to the Super Eagles’ unbelievable armada of attacking talent. The tournament has already taken away four of his first XI (not that he, unlike some of his more senior coaching counterparts, has complained about it). One of those, Victor Boniface, will be missing long beyond the conclusion of Afcon with a serious thigh muscle injury and with Palacios going down in this game and unavailable “for the time being” , Leverkusen are stretched. If the Neverkusen tag is wearing off under Alonso, the mounting injury list is the main threat to their title push as it stands.

That next man up attitude is in full effect, though. “We were a bit disappointed with the early goal, and then Jerry got injured too,” Tella said. “That was a big setback for the whole team because he’s so important, but that gave me the opportunity to get into the game.” Opportunity is exactly what Leverkusen are so good at seizing right now. No excuses, just results.

M'gladbach 1-2 Augsburg, Bayern 0-1 Werder Bremen, RB Leipzig 2-3 Leverkusen, Cologne 0-4 Dortmund, Darmstadt 2-2 Eintracht Frankfurt, Freiburg 3-2 Hoffenheim, Heidenheim 1-1 Wolfsburg, VfL Bochum 1-0 Stuttgart

Talking points

• Bayern’s shock setback, then, was a big bonus for Alonso and company, but let’s hear it for Werder. Brilliantly organised by Ole Werner they were dangerous throughout, and goalkeeper Michael Zetterer stood up when he needed too. The winning goal – a brilliant solo effort by Mitchell Weiser – was a personal triumph for the 29-year-old. Given his debut as a teenage star at Bayern by Pep Guardiola and also failing to make the grade at Leverkusen, Weiser is out of contract at the season’s end.

• FC Köln’s new coach Timo Schultz was left scratching his heads at how his side managed 19 shots against visiting Borussia Dortmund and finished the game on the wrong end of a 4-0 scoreline, but in reality the gulf in attacking class between the two sides was frightening. Effzeh had two good efforts at the beginning of the second half but that was it from a team that have scored a meagre 11 goals all Bundesliga season. Two from Donyell Malen and a good contribution from Jadon Sancho on his first start back, winning/manufacturing (depending on your point of view) a penalty scored by Niklas Füllkrug, sealed the game well before Youssoufa Moukoko’s late strike. Two wins, and two losses for each of Stuttgart and Leipzig, has thrown BVB straight back into the top four mix after Christmas.

• Stuttgart fell to a Matus Bero winner at Bochum in unusual circumstances, with half-time lasting 45 minutes as negotiations to remove a visiting fan banner blocking a fire exit briefly threatened to get the game abandoned. The shambolic defending that allowed Bero’s goal suggested a team that had gone cold during the delay.

• Far more efficient was the process that saw Hungarian defender Attila Szalai join Freiburg on loan for the rest of the season, having sat on the Hoffenheim bench for his new club’s 3-2 win on Saturday. “It was a bizarre situation,” said Freiburg sporting director Klemens Hartenbach. “Attila signed the contract in our office while still wearing his Hoffenheim tracksuit, and then five minutes later he was wearing Freiburg gear for the photo and video.”