Head coach Xabi Alonso made eight changes to his team from the 5-2 DFB-Pokal win in Sandhausen during the week, reverting to the XI that began the 2-1 success at home to Freiburg. The Werkself were immediately on the front foot attacking towards the 3,000 travelling fans, mostly looking to get down the right through Jeremie Frimpong. However, the opening goal came from the left as Wirtz slipped in Victor Boniface, who got to the by-line and returned for Wirtz to tuck home inside nine minutes. The first opportunity for Hoffenheim came shortly after as Lukas Hradecky parried a swerving Marius Bülter shot from range.
Things became more even as the game wore on, but Leverkusen posed the greater threat when going forward. Frimpong struck the side netting on the break before a clever corner routine doubled the advantage as Jonas Hofmann delivered the ball low to Grimaldo arriving on the edge of the box. The Spaniard buried with aplomb on his left foot a minute into first-half added time.
Alonso made a change at the break with Josip Stanisic replacing Odilon Kossounou. Hoffenheim soon got a goal back out of nowhere 10 minutes into the half when Anton Stach chipped the ball over Hradecky from 40 yards after a misplaced pass. And the hosts were level only two minutes later when Weghorst turned home the rebound from a Maximilian Beier shot that came back off the post.
The Werkself were somewhat fortunate when Weghorst headed over unmarked but then responded as Boniface, who’d originally missed a header of his own, recycled the ball and picked out Grimaldo, who curled one into the same post as he’d done the first. Substitutions from both sides saw the tempo drop. No further goals meant Leverkusen had their ninth win of the Bundesliga campaign, a new club record and a five-point lead at the top ahead of Bayern Munich’s evening visit to Borussia Dortmund.
Bayer 04 are next in action in the UEFA Europa League with a trip to Azerbaijan and Qarabag for Matchday 4 in Group H on Thursday, 9 November (18:45 CET). They return home for Sunday’s Bundesliga game against Union Berlin at the BayArena (15:30).
Match stats:
TSG Hoffenheim: Baumann - Kabak, Vogt, Akpoguma (Conté 87') - Skov (Bebou 78'), Stach, Prömel, Bülter - Becker (Kramaric 78') - Weghorst, Beier (Berisha 87')
Bayer 04: Hradecky – Kossounou (Stanisic 46'), Tah, Tapsoba - Frimpong, Xhaka, Palacios, Grimaldo - Hofmann (Andrich 80'), Wirtz (Hlozek 90'+1) - Boniface (Adli 88')
Goals: 0-1 Wirtz (9'), 0-2 Grimaldo (45'+1), 1-2 Stach (56'), 2-2 Weghorst (58'), 2-3 Grimaldo (70')
Yellow cards: Weghorst, Kabak, Prömel - Hradecky, Tah
Referee: Frank Willenborg (Osnabrück)
Attendance: 30,150 (sold out) at the PreZero Arena
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