PLAYER RATINGS | Bayer Leverkusen 3-1 Bochum | OneFootball

The business end of the season. Eight games left, both Bayer Leverkusen and Bochum have things to play for – Leverkusen the title, Bochum relegation. Leverkusne laid down the gauntlet for Bayern with a 3-1 win against Bochum.

Whatever happened after Leverkusen’s game against Stuttgart just before the international break, a switch was flicked and they were playing with a completely different aura and energy compared to before the break. Granted, this was against relegation fighting Bochum at home, but their combinations were smooth and they just looked deadly going forward.

However, they did struggle to create clear cut chances, Leverkusen were able to open the scoring through a long range effort from Aleix Garcia, but they wouldn’t hold the lead for long. A Granit Xhaka head was diverted straight into the path of Giorgos Masouras, whose effort was saved by Lukas Hradecky, but the ball was not cleared properly and landed at the feet of Felix Passlack, whose effort from outside the box beat (only just), Hradecky.

The goal clearly rattled Leverkusen and knocked them out of their rhtym, but they limped to half-time.

In the second half, the hosts found their rhtym again and were fully in control as they tried to break Bochum down. The visitors did provide a few hairy moments with the pace of Gerrit Holtmann, but Leverkusen withheld them.

Leverkusen would take the lead when a Piero Hincapié cut back was bundled in by Victor Boniface, and any nerves surrounding this game being a potential banana skin were gone. Boniface thought he had a second later on in the half when he converted a Frimpong cutback, but he was fractionally offside in the build up to the goal. Leverkusen would get their third in the 88th minute when Exequiel Palacios thread pass is met by Amine Adli who slotted past Timo Horn.

Well, well, well.

Apart from the 20 minute spell at the end of the first half, as mentioned before this was a different Leverkusen compared to before the break. They have had the injection of confidence that they had been lacking for most of this season and you can clearly see that there is the belief that they can catch Bayern. On top of this, they did it without Florian Wirtz, who is by far their best player

The win for Leverkusen close the game to Bayern Munich to three points, at least for now, but the pressure is well on the Rekordmeister going forward. The fact that the gap is so small now, Ive got that feeling back, the feeling of excitement and not extistenal dread that the title race is well and truly over with. The next seven weeks are going to be very, very interesting.

Bayer Leverkusen:

Lukas Hradecky (6), Nordi Mukiele (6), Jonathan Tah (6), Piero Hincapié (6), Jeremie Frimpong (6), Aleix Garcia (6), Granit Xhaka (5), Exequiel Palacios (7), Alejandro Grimaldo (6), Patrick Schick (5), Victor Boniface (7)

Others: Amine Adli (6), Emiliano Buendia (-), Arthur (-), Robert Andrich (-)

Bochum:

Timo Horn (5), Felix Passlack (6), Tim Oermann (5), Ivan Ordets (5), Maximillian Wittek (5), Matus Bero (5), Ibrahim Sissoko (6), Tom Krauß (5), Gerrit Holtmann (6), Philipp Hofmann (5), Giorgos Masouras (5)

Others: Mortiz Broschinski (5), Myron Boadu (5), Dani de Wit (-)

GGFN Man of the Match: Exequiel Palacios (7)

When Leverkusen needed a creative outlet, Palacios provided that tonight. The Argentine’s thread balls set up two of Die Werkself’s goals and created the joint most chances in the game (four, via FotMob). In the base of Leverkusen’s midfield, Palacios commanded play and helped mitigate the absence of Wirtz.

Boniface also deserves a shout out, as he has looked very lively in the past two games, Off the bench against Stuttgarr he helped with the comeback, while tonight he could of had two goals. If the Nigerian continues this form, he will once again be vaulebale for Leverkusen in the run in.

GGFN | Jack Meenan