Xabi Alonso made five changes to his team from the weekend’s 2-2 draw away at RB Leipzig, including Matej Kovar replacing Lukas Hradecky in goal again. Leverkusen pushed for a win from the start against the Czech champions, who are still on their domestic winter break and already out of contention in the Champions League. Granit Xhaka had the first attempt inside three minutes, while Jonathan Tah saw an effort cleared off the line and Patrik Schick put a header narrowly wide. All the action was taking place in the Sparta half, but the Werkself just couldn’t find a way through at first.
Referee Georgi Kabakov then pointed to the spot after half an hour but reversed his decision to award Leverkusen a penalty for handball by Jaroslav Zeleny. Bayer 04 quickly put that behind them, though, and forged ahead when Jeremie Frimpong teed up Wirtz to finish into the bottom left corner. As things stood, the Bundesliga champions were up to sixth in the table.
The first chance after the break fell to probably Prague’s best player in Victor Olatunji, but the Werkself then retook control of proceedings and got a second just after the hour mark. Alejandro Grimaldo’s free-kick was too hot to handle for Sparta goalkeeper Peter Vindahl, presenting Tella the opportunity to tuck away the rebound. It gave the Werkself a cushion in sixth place, which is where they ended up finishing thanks to their superior goal difference over Lille and Aston Villa on the back of a deserved 2-0 win.
By finishing in the top eight, Leverkusen avoid a play-off and go straight into the round of 16. The format from that stage continues as in previous years, with two legs (4/5 and 11/12 March), with the return fixture set to be played at the BayArena. The Werkself will discover their opponents following the play-offs when the draw for the last 16 is made on Friday, 21 February.
Bayer 04’s next two competitive fixtures are also in Leverkusen. First it’s Hoffenheim who come to town in the Bundesliga on Sunday (5.30pm CET) before the DFB Pokal quarter-final against Köln on Wednesday, 5 February (8.45pm).
Match stats:
Bayer 04: Kovar - Mukiele, Tah, Tapsoba - Frimpong (Arthur 88'), Palacios (Garcia 83'), Xhaka, Grimaldo - Wirtz (Hofmann 90'), Tella (Andrich 83') - Schick (Stepanov 90')
Sparta Prague: Vindahl - Vitik, Sevinsky, Sörensen - Wiesner (Suchomel 85'), Sadilek, Kairinen, Zeleny (Krasniqi 90'+3) - Laci (Danek 85') - Olatunji (Haraslin 67'), Birmancevic (Penxa 90'+3)
Goals: 1-0 Wirtz (32'), 2'0 Tella (64')
Yellow cards: Xhaka, Andrich - Birmancevic, Olatunji
Referee: Georgi Kabakov (Bulgaria)
Attendance: 30,210 (sold out) at the BayArena
Two keepers, lots of questions: Werkself captain Lukas Hradecky and U19 goalkeeper Jesper Schlich visited the BarmeniaGothaer children’s press conference in partnership with the Bayer 04 Lions Club on Wednesday afternoon. The duo faced interesting and at times unusual questions from around 50 inquisitive young journalists in the press conference room at the BayArena.
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A large number of sporting directors and officials from big clubs across Europe came to the BayArena on Tuesday for the second seminar in the UEFA Sporting Director Programme (SDP) in cooperation with the ECA.
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Full-back Janou Levels will leave Bayer 04 Leverkusen at the end of the season. The 24-year-old has activated her release clause and she will join Bundesliga rivals VfL Wolfsburg. She has signed a three-year contract.
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After returning from Hamburg and a day off on Easter Monday, the Werkself players were back on the training ground at the BayArena on Tuesday morning. Following the session, Amine Adli was very positive in a media interview about the remaining four matches including the forthcoming home game against FC Augsburg (Saturday, 26 April, 15:30 CEST): "We will give our all to end the season as well as we can!"
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