AWhen the redeeming goal finally came, the excited Xabi Alonso could no longer be held back. He drove his team forward with increasing energy for 94 minutes, then made a huge leap into the air when he scored the last-minute goal that secured Bayer Leverkusen's first-round championship. The 1-0 win at FC Augsburg by Exequiel Palacios (90+4) was a hard-fought victory.
“We believed the whole time that it could work and created chances right up to the last second,” said sports director Simon Rolfes to Sky broadcaster.
“Faith was always there”
The former German international doesn't want to take the half-time title so seriously: “It's just a snapshot, only success is important. The belief that we could win the game even in the last second was always there. These victories are the best, something like that in the last second is great.”
Rolfes was also very happy with the “Werkself” players who were substituted. “Those who came in did well. They quickly got control. “It hasn’t all worked out yet, but we’ve done well,” said Rolfes.
Record champions Bayern Munich can no longer overtake Union Berlin on January 24th in the catch-up game (8.30 p.m. in the FAZ live ticker for the Bundesliga and on Sky) at the end of the first half of the season. The “Werkself” are currently four points ahead in the second half of the season.
Without Tah and Wirtz
Leverkusen was the better team against strong Augsburg players at home, who had only managed one win from their previous seven games. In an entertaining encounter that was open at all times, the guests also had numerous good opportunities to achieve their 14th win of the season.
What was missing was the final consistency and precision in the finish – until Palacios scored the winning goal. FCA goalkeeper Finn Dahmen had previously prevented anything worse from happening.
This time, Robert Andrich took on the central role in Leverkusen's defense, which has already been thinned out by the secondment of regulars Odilon Kossounou and Edmond Tapsoba for the Africa Cup – a precautionary measure: Jonathan Tah (four yellow cards) threatened to be banned from the top team. There was a threat of a game next weekend at RB Leipzig. Florian Wirtz was also missing from the starting line-up, but came into the game after an hour.
What the guests lacked were goals, although Leverkusen had good chances to take the lead early on. Alejandro Grimaldo's shot was parried by Dahmen (18th), then the Augsburg goalkeeper, together with Felix Uduokhai, also cleared it against Patrik Schick (19th).
After Augsburg's opportunity through Ermedin Demirovic's shot (22'), Grimaldo hit the crossbar a few minutes later (28'). Dahmen was there again for Andrich's header from close range (37').
The second half was also characterized by the guests' efforts to score a goal, with Schick and Granit Xhaka and Wirtz in particular being denied success. Phillip Tietz scored for Augsburg (72'). After the video referee intervened, referee Sven Jablonski (Bremen) ruled the game offside. Palacios was then the match winner for Bayer.
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