Bayer Leverkusen's exciting attack provided them with three goals, but their defense leaked an equal number. Werder Bremen will be happy to get a point here, but three draws from three matches so far is not exactly how they wanted to start the campaign.
Bayer Leverkusen vs. Werder Bremen: Final score 3-3, woeful defending sees Bayer drop points
Friday night’s clash at the BayArena saw the home side maintain its top of the table position, despite blowing a lead and the match ending in a draw.
Dennis Grombkowski
Tin Jedvaj made it 1-0 to the home side after breaking down the right side and finding himself in a lot of space. His second goal of the season was spectacular: a right footed, outside of the boot laser that went into the underside of the crossbar past Raphael Wolf. The goal was the 2,000th Bundesliga goal in the club's history since promotion in 1979.
Bernd Leno may have been taking sweeper-keeper lessons from Manuel Neuer, and he put his new education to work in the 18th minute, clearing the ball from danger 40 yards away from goal.
Despite hitting the woodwork three times in the first 28 minutes, die Werkself had just one goal to show for it. Levin Öztunali decided that it was his turn to hit the post in the 35th minute, and Bremen were relieved to see the powerful shot rebound back into play as it remained 1-0 despite having just two shots to the 11 recorded by Leverkusen.
Sloppy defensive play from Leverkusen gave the visitors a lifeline seconds before halftime. Fin Bartels beat Leno to the near post, leveling the game for die Werderaner. Although manager Robin Dutt couldn’t be happy with the first half performance, he was thrilled with the level scoreline at the break.
Shockingly, the visitors took the lead after more poor defending. Franco Di Santo beat Leno from a one-on-one situation just shy of the hour mark.
Just two minutes later, Hakan Çalhanoglu got his first goal of the season. Leverkusen had a free kick two yards outside the area on the left side and the 20-year-old Turk hit a perfect shot that went up and down over the helpless wall.
Son Heung-Min was subbed on for Öztunali just after the hour mark, and was able to open his account for the season 12 minutes later with a strike from just outside the area on the right side that flew past Wolf, again giving the home side the lead.
Five minutes from time Sebastain Prödl leveled it at three a piece, after another episode of awful defending by Leverkusen. He found himself unmarked at the far post and was able to slot it past Leno, who was understandably frustrated. Substitute Nils Petersen provided the assist.
Bayer Leverkusen: Bernd Leno; Tin Jedvaj, Ömer Toprak, Emer Spahić, Sebastian Boenisch; Gonzalo Castro, Sven Bender (Stefan Reinartz, 69'); Levin Öztunali (Heung-Min Son 61'), Hakan Çalhanoglu, Karim Bellarabi; Stefan Kiesßling (Josip Drmic 90').
Goals: Jedvaj (18’), Çalhanoglu (62’), Son (73’)
Werder Bremen: Raphael Wolf; Clemens Fritz (Marnon Busch 82'), Sebastian Prödl, Assani Lukimya, Santiago Garcia; Fin Bartels, Gálvez, Zlatko Junuzović, Eljero Elia (Nils Petersen 78'); Franco Di Santo, Davie Selke (Izet Hajrović 71').
Goals: Bartels (45’), Di Santo (60’), Prödl (85’)
See More:
