Leverkusen leaves chances: Frimpong’s blackout costs Bayer the victory

Thursday October 21, 2021

Leverkusen leaves opportunities to lie
Frimpong’s blackout costs Bayer the win

Bayer 04 Leverkusen remain leaders in the Europa League group. At Betis Sevilla, despite a good start, they don’t want to score a goal at first. After falling behind, Gerardo Seoane’s team comes back, but also leaves the best chances for a win.

Bayer Leverkusen averted their first defeat in the Europa League. Four days after the 5-1 swat against Bayern Munich, returning Robert Andrich (82nd) ​​saved coach Gerardo Seoane’s team a 1-1 (0-0) at Betis Sevilla and rewarded a strong reaction from the Werkself. Leverkusen, as leaders of Group G with seven points after three games, is still on course for the knockout round, Betis remains tied in second place. Borja Iglesias (75th, hand penalty after video evidence) had put Betis in the lead after a blackout by Jeremie Frimpong.

Seoane had switched his team to a total of six positions. Among other things, Charles Aranguiz was absent because of his muscle tendon injury in his calf. Andrich, who was red-banned in the Bundesliga, returned in the double six at the side of Kerem Demirbay. After the bankruptcy against Bayern, Seoane demanded a reaction from his rebuilt team. “Betis plays very well as a collective. They have individual quality in attack and defense. They are extremely experienced and never leave the schedule,” said the Swiss: “But our aim is to be first in the table.”

The Leverkusen-based company underpinned their claim from the start in front of 40,000 at the Estadio Benito Villamarin. The guests played their first chance after 30 seconds. Winger Moussa Diaby started on the left and found Lucas Alario in the penalty area. Chilean goalkeeper Claudio Bravo parried the Argentine’s shot. Three minutes later, Diaby should have taken the lead after dribbling past Bravo. There was no sign of the Werkself’s bitter setback against Bayern on Sunday. Leverkusen continued to play with a lot of push forward. Alario artistically passed a Demirbay free kick to the crossbar (11th).

Only after a quarter of an hour did the Verdiblancos become more active. And Bayer was lucky that it didn’t fall behind out of nowhere. Captain Lukas Hradecky let a shot from Iglesias ricochet forward, Aitor Ruibal put the margin over the goal with a touchdown (24th). As a result, the game initially lost a little momentum. It was only shortly before the break that Nabil Fekir (41st) and Iglesias (42nd) became dangerous with degrees in front of the Bayer goal.

The second half started like the first, with a lot of speed. Especially from Betis. Bayer had problems and struggled with some unnecessary ball losses. Hradecky saved Diego Lainez’s best chance (56th). Seoane tried again to inspire his offensive by substituting his top scorer Florian Wirtz and Patrik Schick. Then only Frimpong failed, Andrich gave the answer.