VfL Wolfsburg suffered a 2-0 defeat away to Bayer Leverkusen as Matchday 25 came to a close. The Wolves had to contend with Moritz Lenz being sent off in the 28th minute and then set about defending their own penalty area with all that they could muster, but did not have enough up front to come away with a point.
Goals
- 1-0 Tella (37’): Leverkusen move the ball around to the left and Hincapie then feeds Grimaldo in the box, who turns past Majer and crosses into the six-yard box, where an unmarked Tella heads home comfortably.
- 2-0 Wirtz (86’): The home team put the match to bed. Palacios plays a perfect pass into the path of Wirtz, who volleys home off the inside of the near post.
Reaction
Xabi Alonso: “Obviously the second yellow and the sending-off made a different game of it, but we’d already looked good in the opening 30 minutes, playing with good rhythm and right on top of things whenever we lost the ball. Once they were a man down, it was a similar situation and we probably had more of an advantage. Maybe it wasn’t the most spectacular performance today but we were desperate not to let them in on the counter and that meant that we were very patient. We’re satisfied with the result and with the performance as well.”
Niko Kovac: “Up until the sending-off, we looked good in possession and created three promising chances. After that though, it was over as a contest. It’s tough enough to go to Leverkusen and play with 11, so all I can do is congratulate the lads because defensively we made it really tough for them throughout the entire match.”
Line-ups and stats
Bayer 04 Leverkusen: Hradecky – Stanisic, Tapsoba, Tah, Hincapie (59‘ Adli) – Xhaka, Palacios (90’ Andrich) – Tella (76‘ Hofmann), Wirtz (90‘ Hlozek), Grimaldo – Schick (76’ Iglesias)
Subs: Lomb (GK), Kossounou, Mbamba, Puerta
VfL Wolfsburg: Casteels – Lacroix, Jenz, Zesiger (87‘ Behrens) – Baku, Gerhardt (88‘ Wimmer), Arnold, Paredes – Majer (63‘ Vranckx), Tomas (63‘ Sarr) – Wind (32’ Bornauw)
Subs: Pervan (GK), Fischer, Rogerio, Svanberg
Goals: 1-0 Tella (37‘), 2-0 Wirtz (86‘)
Yellow card: Adli / Gerhardt
Red card: Jenz
Referee: Daniel Siebert (Berlin)
Attendance: 29,314 at BayArena, Leverkusen
