Bayer Leverkusen can still do it: win. You can see how good wins can do in the reactions of Leverkusen captain Hradecky. His coach Gerardo Seoane, meanwhile, almost had a little déjà vu.
On matchday 4 of the Europa League it finally happened again: Bayer Leverkusen can win after all. After five games without a win, including a cup exit, the Werkself celebrated a commanding 4:0 victory over Real Betis. Coach Gerardo Seoane was in a correspondingly good mood at the RTL microphone after the game: “I can’t imagine a 4:0 victory that doesn’t feel good,” the coach joked.
Bayers tempo advantage
I think Seoane was particularly pleased with the way his side stood firm defensively against Betis and created a real stir on the offensive, even without a real striker, but with an extremely variable attacking quartet. The two central attackers Amine Adli and Florian Wirtz interpreted their roles just as flexibly as the wingers Paulinho and Moussa Diaby. “You already had the feeling that they had more pace than the Betis Sevilla defence,” said Seoane – and that was not just a feeling, but reality. The coach saw “a lot of similar situations where we get into transition play with the four offensive players”, but a goal was not to be scored at first.
“Hopefully someone will get a good finish “
For Seoane, it was a bit of déjà vu: “Of course you had one or two thoughts, like the last few weeks, now so many opportunities again, hopefully someone will manage a good finish.” But then came the 42nd minute and the hoped-for good finish came: Diaby scored a volley to make it 1:0. “Of course that gives you self-confidence, after the first goal everyone was a bit liberated.” Nevertheless, Bayer had to survive a mini-pressure phase after the break from the visitors, who were all in all too harmless, but Bayer distinguished themselves on this day even more than just a playful offensive quartet: “We fought twice as much today as usual and also made the scoring chances and, above all, at the right time,” praised the experienced Lukas Hradecky to his mostly younger team colleagues.
Again it was Diaby who provided something like a preliminary decision with his second goal. Nevertheless, Seoane also saw a “single shortcoming”. His team should have made use of the “speed difference, where we have certain advantages” earlier. It almost got tight again when Nabil Fekir hit the crossbar with a free kick (67th). Only in the final phase did Bayer exploit the difference in speed to their advantage and counterattacked with Wirtz (86th) and substitute Nadiem Amiri (90th) to decide the game. For Hradecky, meanwhile, the past series was also part of the development: “We are a young team, the deep dents come sometimes. A win like this is the best balm for the little wounds. “
Demirbay will be missing
Less balm, however, should be the red card for Kerem Demirbay. The midfielder got carried away with an assault in the final minute against Fekir and is expected to miss longer, a further weakening in a Bay squad thinned out by injuries. His opponent was also sent off. “We don’t need that because these two fantastic players belong on the pitch and not in the stands with red, “ said Seoane.
