S04 beaten decisively away at Leverkusen

Starting debut for Leo Greiml

Head coach Frank Kramer made three changes to the side that started against FC Augsburg last week. Leo Greiml celebrated his first Bundesliga start, with the Austrian replacing Sepp van den Berg, who suffered severe ligament damage against FCA. Cedric Brunner, who has had to miss three games due to muscle problems, replaced Henning Matriciani at right back. Lastly, Thomas Ouwejan made way for Tobias Mohr at left back. Matriciani and Ouwejan took their place on the bench.

Diaby scores from distance

Leverkusen dominated possession in the first half and came at Schalke again and again down the right flank through right back Jeremie Frimpong and winger Moussa Diaby. In the sixteenth minute, Frimpong played in Diaby whose finish from a tight angle whistled against the side netting. S04 tried to open up some passing lanes but hardly created an dangerous chances in the first half.

Rather, it was Leverkusen who continued to grow more and more dangerous. First Cedric Brunner managed to deflect Patrick Shick’s shot behind (25’), but only a few minutes later the hosts took the lead. Moussa Diaby collected the ball in midfield, dribbled forward before unleashing a shot from about 22 meters out. His powerful shot buried into the top corner, flying past Alexander Schwolow’s outstretched arm (38’).

Leverkusen double their lead through Frimpong

Not even 180 seconds later, Leverkusen scored again. Callum Hudson-Odoi waltzed through midfield far too easily, before passing to Moussa Diaby on the right who himself found the overlapping Jeremie Frimpong. The full back found the corner from about five meters out and from a tight angle (41’). Shortly afterwards, Simon Terrode sent a header just past the post (42’), but Lukas Hradecky looked to have had it covered. Leverkusen went in at half time two goals to the good.

Frimpong makes it 3-0 after the break – Paulinho adds salt to Schalke’s wounds

The Royal Blues tried to play more in Leverkusen’s half following the break, but experienced another setback in the 53^rd minute. Referee Tobias Reichel failed to punish a Robert Andrich handball in his own penalty area, from which Leverkusen sprung a quick counter attack. Moussa Diaby played through Jeremie Frimpong who slotted past Alexander Schwolow’s inside post to extend Leverkusen’s lead to 3-0. Down the other end, Simon Terrode was unable to make anything of Marius Bülter’s good work (54’).

Three goals to the good, Leverkusen leaned even more on their counter-attacking abilities and kept things very tight against S04. The Royal Blues were unable to find that decisive gap to exploit. Back in front of Schalke’s goal, Patrick Schick sent a header over in the 69^th minute, before Alexander Schwolow was forced into a good save again from the striker.

Neither side created much after that, but in the 90^th minute Leverkusen made it 4-0. Paulinho controlled a long pass from Amine Adli and finished past Schwolow from inside the box to cap the game off.

Friday night game against Hoffenheim in the VELTINS-Arena

Schalke face another test in six days time. On Friday (14.10), TSG 1899 Hoffenheim travel to the VELTINS-Arena.