Bayer Leverkusen's Dark Day: Lose Wirtz, Fall to Werder Bremen
Bayer Leverkusen missed a golden opportunity to close the gap on the Bundesliga leaders after suffering a shocking 2-0 defeat at home to Werder Bremen. The loss was compounded by an injury to their star midfielder, Florian Wirtz, adding to the misery of a disappointing afternoon.
The visitors arrived in Leverkusen on the back of four consecutive losses, so Romano Schmid's goal in the 7th minute came as a shock to everyone.
The real disaster for coach Xabi Alonso's side came in the second half when star midfielder Florian Wirtz suffered an ankle injury and was forced to leave the pitch. Wirtz had been struggling with a similar issue in the previous match against Bayern Munich, but there is no specific information yet regarding the severity of his injury.
Bayer Leverkusen pushed forward but were caught out by Werder Bremen's counterattacks. In the dying seconds of the match, Ousmane N'Diaye sealed the win for the visitors, doubling their lead in the 94th minute.
2024-25, Germany - Bundesliga
Bayer 04 - Werder 0:2 (0:1)
Goals: Schmid R., 7 (0:1); Njinmah, 94 (0:2)
Bayer 04: Hradecky; Tah J.; Hermoso; Tapsoba E. (Mukiele, 46); Arthur Soares (Frimpong J., 65); Tella; Aleix Garcia; Xhaka (Palacios Ex., 46); Schick; Buendia (Wirtz, 46; Grimaldo, 59); Adli A.
Bench: Kovar M.; Hincapie; Boniface
Yellow Cards: Schick 21; Adli A. 88; Aleix Garcia 90; Palacios Ex. 90
Werder: Zetterer; Jung A.; Pieper; Veljkovic; Agu F.; Stage; Weiser; Lynen (Bittencourt, 78); Burke (Njinmah, 69); Schmid R. (Topp, 90); André Silva (Grüll, 78)
Bench: Backhaus; Köhn; Malatini; Kaboré I.; Alvero
Yellow Cards: Lynen 18; Weiser 52; Burke 69; Stage 72