Bayer Leverkusen continues to rush from victory to victory: In the Europa League, the Werkself were superior to Qarabag Agdam in every respect.
Bayer Leverkusen celebrated their third success in the third game of the Europa League and their seventh competitive win in a row with an impressive 5:1 (3:1) against Qarabag Agdam. The goal scorers on Thursday (October 26th, 2023) were Florian Wirtz (4th), Alejandro Grimaldo (29th/54th), Victor Boniface (35th) and Edmond Tapsoba (57th). Toral Bayramov (16th) scored the equalizer with a penalty.
Wirtz and Grimaldo outstanding
Leverkusen didn’t need any start-up time to get up to operating temperature. After four minutes, Granit Xhaka sent Grimaldo on the left, whose cross Wirtz converted to take the lead. A mistake and subsequent foul by Xhaka gave the guests a penalty – suddenly the score was 1-1. Afterwards, only Bayer played: Amine Adli’s shot was saved by the crossbar (25′), and the guests blocked a Xhaka header on the line just 60 seconds later.
After 28 minutes it was the combination of Wirtz and Grimaldo that brought success again. The German international dribbled his way into the penalty area, laid it out to Grimaldo and the Portuguese netted. After just over 30 minutes, the Werkself had already had twelve shots on goal. At the lucky number 13 the ball was back in the net: Boniface took a shot from 19 meters and the shot hit the bottom right.
Send back after injury
After the break, Bayer controlled the action without great speed. The first really good attack was a reason to celebrate again: the outstanding Wirtz passed it across to Grimaldo in front of the penalty area, who scored well into the left corner. The fourth goal was almost immediately followed by the fifth when Tapsoba scored after a shot from Boniface.
A little more than an hour had passed when the audience rose from their seats – but not because of another goal: striker Patrik Schick made his comeback into the game after a long injury break, and Boniface was off duty. Wirtz, the best man on the pitch, also went out, while Adam Hlozek was able to gain some match practice.
Leverkusen now against Freiburg
However, Grimaldo still didn’t have enough without his assist provider Wirtz: He put a direct free kick at the right post (79th) – then he too was off work. Young talent Gustavo Puerta made his Europa League debut for him. There was no offensive attack from the guests until the final whistle.
For Bayer, the league continues on Sunday (October 29, 2023) with a home game against SC Freiburg before the away trip to Sandhausen in the cup. This will be followed by a game against Hoffenheim before Bayer plays the second leg against Qarabag Agdam in Azerbaijan.
