Both sides were coming into this derby after defeat in their last game, Leverkusen lost to AS Monaco in the Champions League whilst Köln lost late on at home to Hertha BSC in the Bundesliga. The home side knew that if they won and other results went their way then they could move above Borussia Mönchengladbach into 3rd whilst Köln knew that if the same happened to them then they could rise to 7th or even 6th if they won by a big margin.
In terms of Leverkusen team news Ömer Toprak and Giulio Donati both had injuries coming into this game and as a result neither made it to the bench whilst Tin Jedvaj replaced Wendell int the starting line-up. Köln only made one change after the defeat to Hertha with Dominik Maroh coming in for Yannick Gerhardt to make it 5 at the back for Köln.
A hectic opening start to the game greeted a full house at the BayArena, within a minute Karim Bellarabi sent in a cross towards Hakan Çalhanoğlu but Maroh got there just in time and steered it behind for a corner. Köln then took the lead in the third minute when Matthias Lehmann found himself in the box unmarked and touched the ball past the oncoming Bernd Leno who then brought him down, a penalty was awarded and Leno was booked, affair decision as the ball looked to be running out of play so it didn’t warrant a red card.
10 minutes later Köln had another penalty appeal, this time Anthony Ujah beat the defenders to the ball and ran into the box before appearing to be brought down by Leno but this time referee Thorsten Kinhöfer decided a penalty wasn’t warranted. It could be argued that this was the turning point of the game as Köln rarely threatened afterwards. It then appeared as if both sides wanted a bit of a break as a minor lull in the game occured in the 10 minutes leading up to Leverkusen’s equaliser. The equaliser came from a Çalhanoğlu costless kick as Timo Horn in the Köln goal could only parry his direct effort and Bellarabi swooped in to bring his side level from close range.
This swung the game back into the hosts favour as they piled on the pressure. First Lars Bender had a shot from outside the area comfortably saved before Heung-Min Son cut inside from the right flank before his low curling effort was saved well by Horn who is apparently the subject of interest from Liverpool FC. A few minutes later Roger Schmidt’s side had a multitude of attempts thwarted by the Köln defence before Çalhanoğlu fired his effort goal wards but Horn got behind it well and despite spilling it the Germany U21 keeper recovered to gather the ball.
Çalhanoğlu was the instigator of nearly all of Leverkusen goal attempts and in the 42nd minute he was the creator once again. His delivery from a corner found Sebastian Boenisch in the box but the Polish defender’s header bounced off a Köln defender for another corner from which Bellarabi wasted an opportunity.
The start of the 2nd half greatly lacked the intensity of the opening few minutes of the first half, the only occasions of note were Josip Drmic coming on for Stefan Kießling at half-time, Lehmann being booked for a challenge on Bender and Slawomir Peszko coming on for Dusan Švento. In the 61st minute Çalhanoğlu brought the game to life with a moment of magic from about 30 yards out. Son won a costless-kick after being struck in the face going for the ball and Çalhanoğlu stepped up and curled it home beautifully into the top corner leaving Horn with no chance. Bellarabi then had a chance 4 minutes later but could he only direct it straight towards Horn.
A Köln mix up nearly gifted Çalhanoğlu his 2nd goal of the game when Kevin Wimmer was dispossessed just outside his own box and the ball fell to teammate Maroh who from a tight angle attempted a back pass that didn’t have enough power on it and allowed Çalhanoğlu to intercept but the Turkish attacker’s shot was blocked. Leverkusen’s patient play paid off in the 78th minute when Bellarabi made yet another run down the right before pulling it back for Son who with his back to goal laid it off for Drmic curled it home first time. The Swiss striker nearly doubled his tally 4 minutes later when yet another set-piece from Çalhanoğlu was perfect but the youngster could only head wide from the corner.
He was made to wait for his 2nd but it was worth the wait as an initial shot from Leverkusen was defected and as it came back down to earth Drmic connected wonderfully with it to produce a superb volley into the top corner. By this point in the game the Köln defence had crumbled and a minute later Leverkusen struck again on the counter. The ball found its way to Bellarabi on the left and he lifted the ball over Horn’s leg and into the corner to make it 5 in what was the last kick of the game.
