BATE Borisov and Bayer Leverkusen played out a 1-1 draw at the Borisov Arena in Champions League Group E; Mikhail Gordeychuk on the score sheet for the hosts, whilst Admir Mehmedi grabbed Roger Schmidt's side goal on a cold winter night in Belarus.
The hosts got off to the best possible start as they look to pip both Leverkusen and AS Roma to the final qualifying spot, with Gordeychuk opening the scoring with only two minutes on the clock. die Werkself however dominated most of proceedings and eventually got a deserved leveler as Admir Mehmedi beat BATE 'keeper Sergey Chernik midway through the second half, as both teams settled for a point in the end.
Bayer dominate but BATE lead
It was the worst possible start for die Werkself after their long trip to the Eastern bloc state, Belarus, as Aleksandr Yermakovich's side took an early lead. The similarly named Aleksandr Volodko instrumental; picking up the ball from deep before crafting a fine ball into the feet of Mikhail Gordeychuk - the Belorussian international cut inside onto his preferred right foot and unleashed a rather tame effort towards Bernd Leno. However, the Bayer Leverkusen man produced a moment to forget as he let the ball squirm between his palms, and produce an early lead for BATE Borisov. The crowd in attendance, save for the small band of traveling fans from Germany, sent into raptures by Gordeychuk's goal.
Yet, die Werkself were nearly back on level terms within mere minutes, save for excellent blocks on two separate occasions from the BATE defence; both Leverkusen central defenders André Ramalho and Jonothan Tah the unlucky parties.
Ever instrumental, Hakan Çalhanoğlu had the next effort for Roger Schmidt's side as they looked to level on the eve. The Turkish playmaker, formerly of HSV and Karlsruher SC, breaking away from the BATE Borisov defence before dragging his effort wide at the Borisov Arena. Admir Mehmedi and Karim Bellarabi also wasting promising positions for the BayArena side.
All the hosts could offer in return during the first half, which was quite clearly dominated by Leverkusen, was a speculative Dmitri Mozolevski effort that was blocked by the die Werkself defence when the chance arose.
Die Werkself draw level
Roger Schmidt sensing the importance of the situation as Bayer Leverkusen looked to reach the Champions League knockout stage once more, spurred his side on during the half time break and there was no change in proceedings at the start of play in the second period.
Summer signing and talismanic figure at that, Javier Hernandez - who had scored eleven goals in his time at the BayArena so far - was single handedly trying to draw his side back into the game. The Mexican had a number of efforts in quick succession, although none found the back of the net for the striker who has scored in his last fix Bundesliga games.
Die Werkself's created a large number of chances, yet due to a mixture of poor finishing and excellent goalkeeping courtesy of Sergey Chernik, they were unable to draw themselves level in a game they had vastly dominated. Karim Bellarabi and Christoph Kramer the latest victims to fall foul of the Belorussian's exploits.
The half drew on and still die Werkself weren't level, however only moments after Admir Mehmedi had wasted another opportunity the aforementioned Swiss forward finally hauled Roger Schmidt's side level. Pivotal, Çalhanoğlu burst forward before finding the former SC Freiburg man who beat Chernik at the first time of asking. Leverkusen left with twenty minutes to find a winner that would've made life a lot easier for them in Group E.
However, despite the die Werkself dominance throughout following the equaliser it was the hosts, BATE Borisov who looked the more likely to take the three points. They had their first meaningful efforts following Gordeychuk's earlier goal through Maksim Zhavnerchik as well as Aleksandr Karnitskiy - yet for both of BATE's Belorussian counterparts they were unable to trouble a Bernd Leno figure who had proved a nervy figure for the earlier goal.
Die Werkself nearly snatched the game in its final breath, as Chicarito Hernandez looked to have an opening on goal; but determined not to let a two goal lead slip and retain a point a plethora of BATE Borisov defenders flung themselves at the ball and the final chance of the game was gone.