The club from the Black Forest came into this game missing their star attacking asset in Admir Mehmedi who was out with a hamstring strain. They were winless coming into this game having lost twice and draw three games including their last two which were against Hertha Berlin and 1899 Hoffenheim. Bayer Leverkusen were coming into this game after a mixed 7 days, the 4-1 humiliation at the hands of VfL Wolfsburg was followed up by a far from convincing 1-0 win against Augsburg on Wednesday. They were missing captain Simon Rolfes who who suffered an ankle injury at the end of August and has not played since.
The home side nearly snuck ahead inside 3 minutes when a cross from the right hand was misjudged by Tin Jedvaj and his clearance went out for a corner. The resulting corner was just over Pavel Krmaš. Both sides were quite wasteful in the early stages, there was a moment of confusion in the Leverkusen attack in the 4th minute when a pass was made to Hakan Çalhanoğlu but Stefan Kießling took it instead but miscontrolled it allowing the defence to clear causing a small argument between the pair.
Leverkusen defender Emir Spahić became a victim of this sloppiness in passing after a misplaced pass from Roberto Hilbert was intercepted by Maximilian Philipp and he touched it passed Spahić before the pair collided. Spahić was booked for the collision and appeared to suffer a nasty injury to the face as he was done for a few minutes and appeared to be tentatively touching his cheekbone area. He was able to continue but more information could be release after the game if it’s serious. Unfortunately for Freiburg Jonathan Schmid was not able to make the most of the costless-kick as he sent it straight into the wall.
Spahić was then sent off in the 27th minute for a second bookable offence after tackling Philipp. The referee actually produced a lot of yellow cards today, 10 in total, and two of those also went to Krmaš who was originally booked for a challenge on Kießling which the big striker appeared to make the most of. He then picked up his second in the 78th minute this time the yellow appeared to be more deserved after he clearly landed on Lars Bender’s leg.
Both sides had their chances in the first half with Leverkusen edging it in terms of number of chances. Heung-Min Son had a great chance in the 18th minute when he received the ball in the box unmarked and rounded the keeper but he ran to the byline and was forced to cut back allowing Bürki to gather the ball from Son’s feet. Hilbert also had a good chance when he hit a half-volley from the edge of the box after a set-piece was cleared, unfortunately it was straight at the ever-present Bürki who easily gobbled it up.
Freiburg had their share of chances too, a costless-kick was awarded to them after Jedvaj challenged Christian Günter on the edge of the box. It was hard to tell whether or not Jedvaj got the ball but the young Croatian reacted very angrily to the decision as a result was booked for his actions. The resulting costless kick looked destined for the bottom corner before Bernd Leno tipped round the post. Freiburg’s best chance came in the 36th minute when the ball was played across the 6-yard box to Felix Klaus but he inexplicably skied his shot in front of a gaping net.
Bayer Leverkusen burst out of the box in the second half immediately putting themselves on the front foot. In the 48th minute a Çalhanoğlu costless kick was headed goal wards by Kießling but it was brilliantly saved by Freiburg’s Swiss keeper. Çalhanoğlu then attempted a strike from around 45 yards out on goal that was reminiscent of his goal last year against Dortmund but this time it was from open play. Bürki was clearly caught out by the shot and was extremely relieved to see it fly just over the bar landing on the top of the net.
Leverkusen just kept coming throughout the half, Karim Bellarabi made a brilliant run past 3 defenders before trying to reverse his shot but again the Freiburg goalkeeper was steadfast in his defence and denied the young German his 3rd goal of the Bundesliga season. The Swiss stopper then had to save a shot from one of his own players after a Wendell costless-kick for the away side was deflected off his defence and he showed quick reactions to reach up and grab the shot. Leverkusen’s best chance of the game came in the 72nd minute when Bellarabi started a counter-attack.
He passed the ball out wide to Son who moved inside before cutting back on himself and unleashing a shot that forced the keeper to get down low and save smartly. The ball then bounced out to Bellarabi whose shot hit the crossbar before bouncing down on the line, replays showed it didn’t completely cross the line. The replay also showed that Bürki had actually pulled off a brilliant save because Bellarabi’s shot was actually heading in before the 23-year old keeper reacted quickly to tip the ball onto the crossbar. Leverkusen had one final chance in the game when a Son costless-kick struck the crossbar, but Bürki was not going to be beaten.