Patrik Schick and Moussa Diaby were among the goals as Bayer Leverkusen overpowered Borussia Gladbach for a 4-0 win on Matchday 2.
Leverkusen’s domination from the first minute
The game was only three minutes old when the tone for the evening was set. Mitchel Bakker’s low drive from outside the box rebounded back off the post straight onto a helpless Yann Sommer and into the net to put Leverkusen ahead. Things got even better for Bayer just five minutes later when Diaby raced clear of Joe Scally down the right and cut the ball back to Schick centrally on the edge of the box. The UEFA Euro 2020 top scorer wasted no time in controlling and finishing with aplomb inside the far post. Left-back Scally was the biggest threat going forward for Gladbach – who lost Marcus Thuram to injury after 20 minutes – and had two of their five shots but without really posing a danger. Just moments after Sommer had denied Schick a second, the Foals had a golden chance to get back into the game when Bakker was adjudged to have taken down Stefan Lainer – who also had to go off injured – in the box. Captain Lars Stindl stepped up to take but saw his effort saved by Lukas Hradecky.the
Gladbach cold not change pace in second half
The Gladbach players came racing out the blocks for the second half and Florian Neuhaus had an early chance when he headed Ramy Bensebaini’s cross. Bakker raced past Paulinho on the overlap, crossed deep for Diaby, whose shot took a fortunate deflection off Bensebaini and past Ian Sommer to inflict further Mönchengladbach misery. It got even worse when defensive stalwart Matthias Ginter also had to go off with a knock, and the fourth goal very much summed up the way game had gone as Sommer failed to hold a Nadiem Amiri shot and the ball crept agonisingly over the line. A day to forget for the Foals after the high of their opening draw with champions Bayern Munich, while new Leverkusen boss Gerardo Seoane enjoyed a successful home debut in the Bundesliga in front of over 15,000 spectators at the BayArena.