Xabi Alonso has made an excellent start to his adventure at Bayer Leverkusen. The coach saw his team beat Schalke 04 4-0 thanks to goals from Moussa Diaby, Jeremie Frimpong (twice) and Paulinho. On behalf of RB Leipzig, Christopher Nkunku managed to save a point at FSV Mainz (1-1), while Eintracht Frankfurt surprisingly lost 3-0 at last to VfL Bochum from trainer Thomas Letsch.
At Leverkusen, in addition to Frimpong, Mitchel Bakker also started in the starting eleven. Timothy Fosu-Mensah and Daley Sinkgraven started on the couch at That Work Self. Leverkusen had to deal with the necessary offensive absences. Florian Wirtz, Karim Bellarabi and Serdar Azmoun were not present. On the side of Schalke, Thomas Ouwejan started on the bench, while Sepp van den Berg will be absent for a longer period of time due to his serious knee injury. Former tourist office Maya Yoshida did start in the base of the club from Gelsenkirchen.
?? Jeremie Frimpong gives Xabi Alonso dream debut The right back put the 2-0 and 3-0 for Bayer Leverkusen on the scoreboard against Schalke 04. With this, the points seem to be in for the debuting trainer. #ViaplaySportNL #ViaplayFootball pic.twitter.com/hj7BlPBFQc
— Viaplay Sport Netherlands (@viaplaysportnl) October 8, 2022
After Diaby almost scored the opening goal with a shot just wide of the post, Patrik Schick was also close to the first goal of the afternoon. However, the Czech saw his shot from a dangerous position just change direction, leaving a corner kick. In minute 38 it was a hit for the dominant Leverkusen. Robert Andrich brought the ball to Diaby and the lightning-fast attacker scored beautifully with a hard shot into the roof of the goal: 1-0. Three minutes later, Frimpong was also applauded. Beautiful preparatory work by Callum Hudson-Odoi ensured that Diaby received the ball. The fast attacker then gave the ball to Frimpong, who found the far corner: 2-0.
At the start of the second half, Schalke coach Frank Kramer brought Ouwejan into the field, but that didn’t seem to help his team anymore. Seven minutes after the start of the second company, Leverkusen closed the game and again the Diaby-Frimpong tandem was responsible for that. A nice cross pass from Diaby found Frimpong, who was free in front of the goal and placed the ball in the far corner with a roller: 3-0. Schick also tried to take his goal, but his header at the penalty spot only just went over the goal of Schalke goalkeeper Alexander Schwolow. Paulinho took care of the final chord in the final phase. The Brazilian received the ball from Amine Adli, after which the midfielder simply rounded off in the bottom left corner: 4-0.
| No. | Team | m | W | G | V | +/- | Pnt |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1. FC Union Berlin | 8 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 9 | 17 |
| 2 | SC Freiburg | 8 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 6 | 17 |
| 3 | Bayern Munich | 8 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 17 | 15 |
| 4 | Werder Bremen | 9 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 6 | 15 |
| 5 | Borussia Dortmund | 8 | 5 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 15 |
| 6 | TSG Hoffenheim | 9 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 14 |
| 7 | Eintracht Frankfurt | 9 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 14 |
| 8 | 1. FC Cologne | 8 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 4 | 13 |
| 9 | FC Augsburg | 9 | 4 | 1 | 4 | -4 | 13 |
| 10 | RB Leipzig | 9 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 12 |
| 11 | Borussia Monchengladbach | 8 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 12 |
| 12 | FSV Mainz 05 | 9 | 3 | 3 | 3 | -4 | 12 |
| 13 | VfL Wolfsburg | 9 | 2 | 3 | 4 | -6 | 9 |
| 14 | Bayer Leverkusen | 9 | 2 | 2 | 5 | -3 | 8 |
| 15 | Hertha BSC | 8 | 1 | 4 | 3 | -2 | 7 |
| 16 | Schalke 04 | 9 | 1 | 3 | 5 | -11 | 6 |
| 17 | VfB Stuttgart | 8 | 0 | 5 | 3 | -4 | 5 |
| 18 | VfL Bochum | 9 | 1 | 1 | 7 | -15 | 4 |