Bayer Leverkusen missed a big step towards the knockout phase in the Champions League without striker Victor Boniface. Despite a long dominant performance and lead, the German double winner couldn’t go beyond a 1-1 (1-1) draw with the surprise team Stade Brest and dropped points for the first time in the new season of the reformed premier class.
Florian Wirtz (24′) gave the Werkself a deserved lead in Brittany, but Pierre Lees-Melou (39′) coldly punished coach Xabi Alonso’s much-changed team. Bayer, like Brest, is in a very good position with seven points in the table of the newly created league phase after three games and has direct qualification for the round of 16 in sight.
Due to the failure of attacker Boniface, who had made the headlines before the game with his car accident on Sunday morning and who had stayed at home for reasons of regeneration, Alonso was forced to rebuild – and did so vigorously. The Spaniard made eight changes to his team compared to the 2-1 win against Eintracht Frankfurt. Wirtz was back in the starting line-up after recovering from an ankle injury.
Without driver Granit The German champions then acted more dominantly and took the lead: Hofmann found Wirtz with a nice pass into the interface, who coolly slotted in down the left.
With the substitution of Xhaka and Frimpong, Leverkusen’s game is getting better again
The hosts were not impressed by the deficit. In the stadium of the French second division team En Avant de Guingamp, which Brest serves as a venue because its own arena does not meet UEFA’s requirements for premier class games, Leverkusen controlled the game. But Brest became more dangerous – and somewhat surprisingly scored the equalizer: Lees-Melouge scored with a fantastic direct shot from 18 meters to the half-time score.
After the break, the French continued to attack the Werkself with their aggressive style of play, and Wirtz wasted the ball in a promising chance in front of the goal (53′). Brest was now the better team, Bayer was mostly behind. Alonso reacted and brought Xhaka and Jeremie Frimpong into the game. Bayer subsequently became stronger again: Brest’s Massadio Haidara almost scored an own goal (66th), and national player Jonathan Tah (69th) headed into the arms of Marco Bizot after a corner. After a bad foul in a heated final phase, Amine Adli, who had just been substituted, had to leave the field injured.
