Many great Bundesliga scorers, whether Gerd or Dieter Müller, Klaus Fischer, Horst Hrubesch or Harry Kane, are surprisingly quiet, almost shy guys. Of course there are exceptions like Ailton: flamboyant artists who could be expected to perform circus acts even without a net. The first-mentioned players, however, preferred to let (or let) goals speak for themselves and remain silent if the coach is not counting on their services. In this respect, it almost had insurrectionary dimensions when striker Patrik Schick spoke into the microphones on Saturday: “Four chances, three goals,” said the rather shy Czech with the thin arms after the end of the spectacular afternoon, in which Bayer Leverkusen once again had one performance on an unprotected trapeze. Schick now looked for the right words, or he let the interviewer divide his chances by hits before he said: “That was good today.”
Schick is too melancholy to point out that the unsatisfactory rate of scoring opportunities created and used was one of the main reasons why the defending champions collected significantly too few points (20 instead of 31 in the championship season) – and that that is not his fault. No, that has more to do with Victor Boniface, the dazzling center forward who, on good days, not only scores goals, but can hold and distribute the ball, while Schick can sometimes seem like a foreign body who misses the ball.
Not so on Saturday against Heidenheim, when Schick improved his personal tally to four goals from three starting eleven appearances (Boniface: six from nine). The 28-year-old tried hard to work for the team, which his coach particularly liked. Xabi Alonso knows that he has to continue stroking and flattering Schick’s ego so that he can replace Boniface and perhaps even forget him. Schick has already canceled a trip to the national team for this, while his Nigerian colleague/rival received a rare public rebuke from Alonso: Boniface “felt something in his muscles” on his trip with Nigeria’s selection against Rwanda and still continued playing for almost half an hour , “maybe that was something he shouldn’t have done”. The 23-year-old has to appear for weeks at the Bayer hospital, which is getting bigger every day.
But as it is in football: one man’s suffering is another man’s opportunity, and Schick took advantage with his left (32nd, 2:2), his right (52nd, 3:2) and with his head (71st, to 4:2). “He’s a force in the box,” praised captain Granit Xhaka, “he doesn’t need too many chances. He had to show a lot of patience, but patience pays off if you don’t give up.” The 5:2 (2:2) against 1. FC Heidenheim was either way a center forward game, although the cheeky little one The champions’ opponents had to quarrel much more about the fate of their striker. Marvin Pieringer first stole the ball from Bayer defender Piero Hincapie before the score was 0-1 (10th), he tested Bayer keeper Lukas Hradecky shortly afterwards and kept Leverkusen’s defense in a state of alarm because the champions were initially behind, as they often do seemed uncertain this season. Too many mistakes and goals conceded (18 compared to the eleven from the previous season) are the second reason for Bayer 04’s weak points haul, perfectly replicated by Jonathan Tah and Xhaka, who prevailed before the 0-2 (21st minute). a bold power dribble from Mathias Honsak.
Xhaka scores against Heidenheim and announces new talent coming soon
But then Pieringer had to go out injured (28th), “that didn’t do our game any good,” said visiting coach Frank Schmidt. He knew that this was the understatement of the afternoon, because during the three-minute break in the game the visitors’ rhythm was off; For the champions, however, the Axis players Tah, Xhaka and Wirtz took up duty, and they found Schick right at the front. The rest is known, although there were still three notable details. Firstly, it was not Schick who received the coveted “Gerd Müller rotation on the beer mat” award, but Exequiel Palacios, who made his groundbreaking 1-2 possible with a brilliant ball reception after Xhaka’s tempo pass (30th). The Swiss pacesetter, in turn, revealed through his celebration after the wonderful long-range goal to make the final score 5-2 (81st) that new blood is soon expected in the Xhaka household: “My wife already asked in the morning when I would finally score, so that we would announce it can.”
Nevertheless, Heidenheim was right when it was complained that substitute Sirlord Conteh could have turned the whole match over again – had he taken advantage of the guests’ first chance since the 21st minute after a fine pass. But Conteh isn’t that smart, and before he could shoot (71′), the opportunity was lost. The author of the daring, skillful tackle that prevented a 3-3 score was Bayer defender Hincapie, who initiated this wild kick before Patrik Schick took over.
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