Bayer Leverkusen comfortably overcame BATE Borisov on Wednesday night, albeit it wasn't without a scare or two as they opened their Champions League campaign with a win.
Leverkusen started well on the night and were ahead within four minutes, Admir Mehmedi beautifully finding the back of the net with a delicious curled effort, albeit after some extremely poor defending by BATE.
The Belarusians were not disheartened though and found themselves level less than 10 minutes later, Nemanja Milunović powerfully attacking a corner and fortunately seeing it deflect into the back of the net to equalise.
The hosts struggled to find the high tempo they were playing at early on, going in at the break with the score reading 1-1. However, this intensity returned early in the second half, Hakan Çalhanoğlu credited with the goal that put his side ahead again, though it was not without the help of a heavy deflection once more.
Enjoying this purple patch, Leverkusen finally established a comfortable lead just before the hour, Javier Hernandez netting a deserved goal after a lively performance, with a very composed and clinical finish to make it 3-1.
Çalhanoğlu bagged his brace from the spot with 14 minutes to go after his free-kick hit the arms of a defender in the wall, sealing a win that takes the Germans to the top of Group E.
Team news
Neither of these two sides were forced into changes from their weekend line-ups, with injury concerns, fortunately, scarce.
However, on a run of three successive defeats domestically, Leverkusen saw it fit to change things up, making three alterations to the 11 that suffered a 1-0 defeat to newly-promoted Darmstadt 98 last time out.
These were three rather significant changes too, with Christoph Kramer and Stefan Kießling very notable omissions from the starting line-up, both dropped to the bench in favour of summer signings Kevin Kampl and Hernandez, respectively. The other change saw young winger Julian Brandt replaced by Mehmedi.
BATE, on the other hand, made just one change to the team that drew 1-1 with Shakhtyor Soligorsk at the weekend, with Dmitri Baga preferred to Aliaksandr Volodko in midfield, though he was among the substitutes. Former Arsenal and Barcelona man Aliaksandr Hleb was also present in the middle of the park for the Belarusian champions.
Early lead for Leverkusen
Though Leverkusen would be expected to defeat their opponents tonight, they could not be overconfident as they came up against Belarus' dominant force, with BATE on course for their 10th consecutive league title this season, the campaign almost over due to the summer league they play in.
Eight points clear at the top of the table, flying high and oozing confidence on and off the pitch, they would be full of belief that they could cause their German opposition problems tonight.
However, it was the hosts who started the better of the two, pressing high to force BATE to play the ball long and wayward, as well as comfortably keeping the ball.
With four minutes on the clock, the Germans were ahead too. Hernandez was threaded in behind the back line and tried to pick out Çalhanoğlu but, although the pass didn't find its intended target, the Turkish playmaker was able to press Ilya Aleksievich into scuffing his clearance only as far as Mehmedi, who curled the ball into the back of the net from 10 yards out with the outside of his right boot brilliantly - though the goalkeeper's positioning was certainly questionable.
Surprise equaliser for the visitors
After 10 minutes, it could have been two to Leverkusen, Kampl drilling a cross-cum-shot into the box which was well saved by Sergey Chernik - the 'keeper's touch taking the ball just out of the reach of Hernandez's poaching lunge in the six yard box.
However, less than three minutes later, the Belarusians were surprisingly level instead as Milunović's towering header was deflected off of Roberto Hilbert and past Bernd Leno at a corner.
Zonal marking was the main cause of the goal, with no one tracking the run of the Serbian defender as he gathered pace and momentum to power the header goalwards, and Roger Schmidt will certainly need to look at his side's defending from the set piece again, especially since it was from a corner that his side conceded the only goal of their defeat at the weekend too.
Nonetheless, Leverkusen as a whole were at fault for BATE getting back into the game, as they had let their tempo and intensity drop after scoring, instead of upping it to open the floodgates. They needed to go in the opposite direction with this now if they wanted to regain their lead.
Lethargic response from the hosts
Despite this, things did not improve dramatically from the home side. The ball continued to be knocked out far too slowly, with players hesitating with it at their feet and seeing their options quickly reduced as a result. This was even with BATE looking extremely anxious every time their opponents stormed into the final third, with clearances sliced out of play and passes constantly misplaced.
Leverkusen did show some pace on the counter at the midway point of the half, catching their opponents short at the back after the visitors had seen their corner well cleared this time by Kyriakos Papadopoulos. Hleb recovered the ball, but Karim Bellarabi robbed him of it, slipping in Mehmedi with a well-weighted pass as the Swiss looked set to bag his brace by perfectly concluding the swift move.
However, Chernik made himself big in the one-on-one and was able to put Mehmedi off enough to make him miss the target by just a matter of inches.
The signs were promising though as the Germans started to raise their game, Çalhanoğlu the next to provide a good chance as his corner troubled the 'keeper and gave Jonathan Tah a great opportunity to prod home from 10 yards, but the defender showed a real lack of composure as he leaned back and fired the ball well over the bar.
Still, BATE were well organised and, after equalising, looked to be much more confident than their poor start suggested. Star man Hleb had to be withdrawn after half an hour through injury, replaced by the dropped Volodko, but they remained positive and strong as a unit, limiting their opponents to very few sights of goal.
Leverkusen too suffered a setback when captain Lars Bender had to be subbed off just before the break after coming off badly in a tackle with Baga, Kramer his replacement, one Schmidt would hope could inject some pace into the team having seen from the bench how slow the play had been.
Yet, he was given little time to affect proceedings, coming onto the field with the half having two minutes plus stoppage time remaining - the latter of which saw the final opportunity of the opening 45 as Hernandez scuffed an effort at Chernik from a corner.
Leverkusen better after the break
In desperate need of some sort of lift, the hosts came out much better in the second half, with the pace greater and the play much more positive.
They took advantage of this good start too, regaining their lead within two minutes of the restart, albeit not without a large slice of luck as Çalhanoğlu found space to strike on the edge of the box and saw his drilled effort deflect up and over the stranded BATE 'keeper, into the back of the net.
It was now up to the home side to ensure this good intensity remained and that their opponents were not allowed the chances to build on their self-belief and confidence that they could equalise again.
They almost bagged a third less than five minutes later too, Kampl playing Bellarabi in behind for the German to send a lovely ball across the face of goal for Hernandez, but, though the striker attacked the cross with his wrong foot, Chernik anticipated the effort marvellously to pull off a tremendous save from a few yards out and keep the deficit at just one.
The Mexican would finally get his goal just before the hour though, essentially wrapping up the points as he broke through on the right - Kampl again the picker of pass - and arrowed his shot through the legs of the goalkeeper.
The Germans enter cruise control
Two goals ahead with the win looking certain, Leverkusen were able to play with more freedom in the final 30 minutes, Hernandez almost making it four within minutes of making it three, though Chernik, who was having a fabulous game in between the sticks for the visitors, was able to thwart him this time.
Çalhanoğlu, despite playing well on the night, struggled with set pieces and could not muster up one of his trademark free-kick goals, all of his efforts striking the wall. However, with less than 20 minutes to go, one of these attempts hit the raised arms of Filip Mladenović in the wall, giving the hosts a penalty, which Çalhanoğlu eagerly tucked away with power to make it four.
This certainly took the pressure off Leverkusen, with them simply exuding confidence as they saw out the game. One-two touch football confirmed this, as did the various party tricks that were pulled out in the final stages, though BATE did keep going to give them credit, with Mladenović ensuring the untested Leno was on his toes with a decent effort from distance in the 83rd minute.
Nonetheless, the dominance remained at the other end, Kießling, subbed on for Hernandez earlier in the half, dragging an effort just wide in the final five minutes, though squaring it to a teammate would have been the better option as the angle was certainly against him.
To be fair to the Belarusians, they did restrict their opponents to few opportunities to make it five, and were able to keep the score at just 4-1 on the night. Still, the response that Leverkusen produced after a poor first half was worthy of the emphatic scoreline, sending them to the very top of Group E after Barcelona's draw with AS Roma.
Schmidt will be hopeful that his side can reproduce the same intensity and creativity at the weekend when his side travel to Borussia Dortmund, and they will certainly need to if they are to put their sloppy league form behind them and overcome a team who have won every game they have played this season.