Xabi Alonso’s Leverkusen Stays Unbeaten with Dramatic Win Over Leipzig

“It was a very intense match, anything could have happened. We are very pleased that we were able to score the third goal in the end and win,” said coach Xabi Alonso.

Leverkusen defended their unbeaten league record at the home of the fourth Bundesliga team. On the pitch where the Czech national team will play Euro 2024 against Portugal in June. And Bayer did not succeed in the first half. He was losing 0:1, the home team were clearly better and more active. In addition, Alonso had to replace right wingback Jeremie Frimpong due to injury.

Stoppers Odilon Kossounou and Edmond Tapsoba are still missing due to participation in the African Cup of Nations. But in the end it was the men from the back rows who decided. Nathan Tella, who replaced Frimpong, equalized at 1:1, central defender Jonathan Tah netted the goal to make it 2:2, and his partner from the stopper trio, Piero Hincapie, decided in the set-up. Let us remind you that last weekend Leverkusen won 1:0 in Augsburg thanks to a goal in the 94th minute.

“The goals we conceded were not very important for me. I still believed we could win the match,” claimed Alonso. “All in all, great football. We started well, but Leverkusen deserved three points in the second half,” admitted Leipzig coach Marco Rose.

“We were in control of the game, but if we concede three goals, we can’t be surprised to lose. I’m terribly angry,” the experienced full-back of the home team, David Raum, was relieved.

Even three Czechs can celebrate. Patrik Schick appeared in the starting line-up at the tip of the attack, he got into several promising positions, but in the end he did not register in the statistics. Already at 3:2, he was making a substitution in the set-up, Adam Hložek ran onto the pitch in his place. Goalkeeper Matěj Kovář, who catches mostly cups this season, remained among the substitutes.

Before Sunday’s games, Leverkusen leads the league by seven points, but second-placed Bayern Munich has two games less. Xabi Alonso’s men are still unbeaten, they managed to win fifteen times and draw three times from 18 matches.

2024-01-21 04:49:58
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