After the late 2-2 draw in Bremen a week ago, the German soccer champions missed another victory in the Bundesliga in a 0-0 draw against runners-up VfB Stuttgart despite clear superiority. While the Leverkusen team could even slip from third place over the course of the weekend, the Swabians are at risk of slipping into the middle of the table. Nevertheless, the guests should book the point in the Rhineland as a win, even if they have been waiting for a win against Leverkusen for 14 competitive games. Numerous goals, last-minute decisions, sending offs: When both teams met in the recent past, it had almost everything given, just not boredom. This time the signs were a little different. Bayer and VfB are continuing to pursue their fundamentally offensive game idea, but given the surprising defensive weaknesses this season, they initially tried to achieve stability.
Leverkusen had conceded 15 goals in advance, Stuttgart even conceded 16 – so things got off to a controlled start on Friday evening. Leverkusen dominated the action from the start and had good shooting chances through Jeremie Frimpong (12th minute) and Alejandro Grimaldo (14th), but Alexander Nübel made strong saves twice. Otherwise, both defensive lines initially didn’t allow much. Bayer coach Alonso, somewhat surprisingly, switched to a back four. Nordi Mukiele moved into the starting line-up, allowing Grimaldo and Frimpong to act even more offensively on the flanks. The main reason VfB didn’t get into the game was because Bayer specifically tried to take the midfield axis around Atakan Karazor and Angelo Stiller out of the game. Both of them barely got a chance because they were repeatedly disrupted early on by Granit Xhaka and Robert Andrich. So the Stuttgart team hardly played at all and were lucky not to fall behind. Edmond Tapsoba (41′) and Victor Boniface (45’+1) had further good chances with their heads.
On the other hand, there was hardly anything offensive from the guests. If at all, VfB always stood out due to individual mistakes. In particular, the young Anrie Chase, who represented the suspended defense chief Jeff Chabot, made a few passing errors in the build-up to the game. Shortly after the break, the 20-year-old created a big chance for Leverkusen, but Boniface (54th) only hit the post. The big chance was, so to speak, the introduction to a much more exciting final phase. First Deniz Undav (62′) had the first good chance for Stuttgart, then Frimpong (66′) headed just wide. A few minutes later, Boniface (73′) suddenly appeared free in front of the VfB goal, but the strong Nübel parried again. And that was all that was possible for the Bayer team that evening.
