Hofmann shoots his way out of crisis: Bayer’s match winner keeps his fingers crossed for FC Bayern

Hofmann shoots his way out of crisis
Bayer’s match winner keeps his fingers crossed for FC Bayern

By Emmanuel Schneider, Leverkusen
April 12, 2024, 9:38 a.m

Bayer Leverkusen remained goalless for a long time in the quarter-final first leg of the Europa League. Then coach Xabi Alonso once again shows the perfect hand and sends the eventual match winner into the game. And that despite the fact that Jonas Hofmann hasn’t been in top form lately. His motto for the weekend is clear.

Leverkusen’s miracle coach Xabi Alonso grabbed Jonas Hofmann, talked to him and hugged him. It’s the 76th minute in the Europa League quarter-final between Bayer Leverkusen and West Ham United. The Werkself are clearly the better team, but the goals are still missing. Hofmann comes into the game for Amine Adli, and the recovered attacker Victor Boniface also starts at his side.

The first two scenes are still unfortunate. First Hofmann played a simple bad pass into the touchline, then he missed Boniface’s steep pass just in front of the West Ham keeper Lukasz Fabianski who was charging out. But then the hour of the mentality monsters under the Bayer Cross comes once again – and Hofmann’s too.

After a corner (83′), the ball lands at the 31-year-old, who volleys in the penalty area and cracks the West Ham bulwark. It is Leverkusen’s seventh joker goal this Europa League season. After a missed triple chance, Leverkusen followed up in stoppage time. Hofmann’s cross finds Boniface (90.+1). The Nigerian nods off. Joker finds Joker. With the 2-0 home win, Leverkusen not only increased its unbeaten streak to an incredible 42 games (one more game away from record team Juventus Turin), but also gave itself the best prospects of reaching the semi-finals of the European Cup. The triple dream lives on.

After the game, Alonso couldn’t or didn’t want to remember what exactly he whispered to Hofmann and Joker partner Boniface for the final phase. “I don’t exactly remember. I was happy for him,” said the Basque. Whatever it was, it worked. Alonso explained that he was very happy for his player. “Today was an important moment for him. A good impulse for the last six weeks, we need it.”

Xhaka is “brutally happy”

His statements in the mixed zone gave an idea of ​​how important the hit and the assist were for Hofmann. The offensive man stood in front of the journalists’ microphones, clearly relieved. “It was very, very good when you didn’t score for a while and the scorers were missing. Then it’s nice when the can opener came back. Hopefully that was it.” This will “hopefully have an effect on important weeks, especially when it comes to the cup competitions,” said Hofmann. “I’m glad that it worked today, in an extremely important game. That gives me confidence.”

There was also praise from colleague Granit Xhaka. “I’m really happy for Jonas, who doesn’t have an easy situation at the moment,” said the Swiss. Hofmann didn’t want to attest to a perfect game – he would have “played for that from the start,” he said and laughed. After the successful evening against the Premier League club, the 23-time national player’s little period of suffering has ended, if that can even be said for such a successful football machine as Leverkusen. In the first half of the season he made the headlines as an important part of the Werkself and in the league alone with five goals and seven assists. But then a form crisis followed. Up until this Thursday, he had only had one assist this calendar year. Hofmann lost his regular place and was given less and less playing time by Alonso.

“It wasn’t that I was depressed before. I just didn’t have the same scorers as I did in the first half of the season,” said Hofmann. Everything else was “okay”. However, it is even better with two scorer points in one game. With the goal and the assist, he made an impressive comeback just in time for the end of the season.

The second leg will be “something completely different”

However, the West Ham task turned out to be a tough test of patience. “We know that a bit,” said Hofmann, who was surprised at the guests standing low. “We haven’t had that often in such a blatant way that a team puts itself at the back.” In the end the goal shot balance was 33 to 1. The mindset of every player on the pitch is to remain patient, keep running and then decide the games at the back, explained Hofmann.

Bayer is now looking forward. In unison, Alonso, Hofmann and midfield strategist Xhaka warned against West Ham in the second leg. Especially because of the team’s different appearance and the special atmosphere in the London stadium in front of over 60,000 spectators. “Next week will be something completely different – ​​a different atmosphere,” said Hofmann about the standard-strong Brits. You have to survive in front of such a backdrop.

“I got goosebumps”

Before that, however, Bayer 04 can do nothing less than historic and complete the first championship in the club’s history. They need that against Werder Bremen (Sunday, 5:30 p.m./DAZN and in the ntv.de live ticker) a win, then it doesn’t matter how FC Bayern and VfB Stuttgart finish their games. However, this was not an issue before the European Cup game. But after that. “The fans were already singing it. I got goosebumps,” said Hofmann about the celebratory atmosphere in front of the north curve. “It’s clear to everyone what can happen on Sunday.”

Due to mistakes made by the competition, Leverkusen could become champions on Saturday – on the couch. “I hope we can decide for ourselves,” Hofmann said immediately. “I think all of us would be champions for the first time. You don’t want that somehow on the couch with a glass of water at lunchtime before you play yourself.” You can’t really let your emotions out if you’re not in the stadium with the group. “That’s why I’m keeping my fingers crossed for Bayern and Stuttgart,” he said. The lavish party is scheduled to take place in Leverkusen on Sunday. Maybe just the first of three.