No chance at German champions | OneFootball

Big defeat at Bayer Leverkusen

It was a tough evening in Leverkusen that only got tougher as it progressed. The German champions gave us very little chance on the fifth matchday of the league stage of the UEFA Champions League - inflicting a big 5-0 defeat on us at the BayArena.

Match summary

We could not have imagined a worse start. At least we kept Leverkusen out in the second minute as we presented the ball to Florian Wirtz on the edge of the area. The German international raced through and had a go - but his well-placed shot was saved superbly by Alex Schlager.

Our relief did not last long as things got precarious again in the sixth minute. A dangerous shot hit Sammy Baidoo on his leg and bounced onto his elbow - the referee signalled for a spot-kick after a few seconds and stuck by his decision after checking his monitor. Schlager faced down Wirtz again, but this time the German genius smashed the ball in to put his side 1-0 up (6').

The German champions kept their foot on the accelerator and made it two from their next set-piece. This time it was Alejandro Grimaldo who curled a free-kick from just outside the area into the top corner (11').

There was one more blow still to come in a terrible opening phase - as Karim Konate suddenly went down injured (13'). We await a diagnosis, but it doesn't look too good for our striker.

Our goal faced a constant barrage of pressure from the hosts. Schlager did his best to stop Xabi Alonso's side from disappearing out of sight (making five saves in the first half), but the Austrian international goalkeeper could not keep a Wirtz solo effort out in the 30th minute. Leverkusen were in full flow and reminding us just how they became champions with an unbeaten season. Our boys were well off that kind of pace tonight.

The hosts let the tempo drop a bit at the start of the second half, with a quiet opening stage. Bayer Leverkusen were not finished though, and they pounced again with around 30 minutes remaining - as Jeremie Frimpong clipped a cross to Patrik Schick, who turned in for 4-0.

Xabi Alonso made changes but the dominance of the German champions was unchanged. Another goal came from substitute Aleix Garcia - who slotted in from the edge of the box for 5-0 in the 72nd minute.

We did have a chance to note in the final stages - with Amar Dedic keeping Matej Kovar on his toes with a fierce drive. There wasn't any change to the thoroughly disappointing scoreboard, however.

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Alex Schlager

Line-up

Substitutions

Nene for Konate (16'), Bidstrup for Clark (46'), Bajcetic for Gourna-Douath (46'), Guindo for Terzic (46'), Capaldo for Diambou (74')

Yellow cards

Yeo (58' foul)

Injury news