By Ethan McDonagh
Last weekend, Bayer Leverkusen took on newly promoted Holstein Kiel in the side’s first ever league meeting, in what was expected to be a strong win for the home side.
Holstein are playing their first top division German soccer since before the second World War and were expected to be beaten heavily.
However, Holstein had other ideas and despite being two goals down after eight minutes, they fought back to earn a draw.
Die Werkself came flying out at the start of the game, with Nigerian international Victor Boniface opening the scoring after just four minutes by placing a low driven shot past the keeper, whose touch wasn’t enough to prevent it from going in.
Things got even better for Leverkusen manager Xabi Alonso’s team in the eighth minute, with winger Jonas Hoffmann doubling the advantage with an accurate strike into the bottom left corner – after Holstein failed to properly clear the ball from a Boniface effort on target.
It looked like the game was going to be out of sight for the weekend in the 26th minute, when Boniface put another shot past Timon Weiner in goal – only for his effort to be ruled out for offside by the Video Assistant Referee.
At this point, it seemed like it was only a matter of time before Leverkusen scored more and would secure an easy victory. However, the Holstein players managed to improve their defending and keep Leverkusen’s chances to a minimum.
Then, just before half-time, the away side had a rare venture into the champion’s half and managed to get a goal back, with Max Geschwill powering the ball home with his shoulder following an excellent corner delivery by Lewis Holtby.
The pattern of play that saw Leverkusen as the team holding possession of the ball continued into the second half, as the hosts tried everything to break down the compact defending from the visitors.
A major shock occurred in the 68th minute, when Armin Gigovic managed to break past the Leverkusen defenders into the box and was brought down for a penalty by Jeremie Frimpong, who mistimed his challenge.
Jann-Fiete Arp kept his composure from the resulting spot-kick and sent Lukas Hradecky the wrong way, to bring The Storks back on level terms.
The remaining 25 or so minutes of the match was spent with Leverkusen in possession of the ball outside of Kiel’s box, as they desperately tried to retake the lead.
Try as they might, they were unable to breach the compact defence and were only able to go close on few occasions.
The Holstein players used every trick in the book to see out the result, from feigning an injury, to keeping the ball in the corner of the pitch for the remainder of the game.
They rewarded their excellent travelling away fans who were loud all game, with just their second point of the season as they try to avoid immediate relegation back to the second tier of German football.
Holstein have now conceded 19 goals in just 6 matches and will need to improve their defensive record if they are to have any chance of surviving in the topflight of German football.
Leverkusen on the other hand, have had quite a mixed start to their defence of the Bundesliga title season – having taken just 11 points from the opening six games, with three wins, two draws and one defeat.
They have however, already won the German Super Cup against Stuttgart and are perfect in the Champions League, having won their opening two fixtures against Feyenoord and Milan.
The atmosphere at the game was exceptional, with both sets of fans doing German soccer justice and living up to being some of the most passionate sports fans from across the globe.
Here’s a short video of some footage to capture the experience
You must be logged in to post a comment.