Bayer Leverkusen 4-2 Hamburg: Inspired Werkself Down Hamburg

Stefan Kiessling notched a brace today, inspiring Leverkusen to a convincing win...

Mar 14, 2010 6:22:00 PM

By Clark Whitney

More On :  Bayer 04 Leverkusen, Hamburg, Bayer 04 Leverkusen vs Hamburg
Bundesliga: Bayer Leverkusen – Hamburger SV, Mladen Petric; Stefan Kiessling (Bongarts/Getty)

With Simon Rolfes injured, Lars Bender only fit enough to make the bench, and Stefan Reinartz and Toni Kroos suspended, Leverkusen coach Jupp Heynckes found himself short of midfield options. The retired Moenchengladbach striker-turned-coach opted to start Gonzalo Castro in central midfield alongside Arturo Vidal, with Michal Kadlec filling in at left back. On the flanks, Tranquillo Barnetta replaced Kroos, and Renato Augusto retained his starting role.

In his return to Leverkusen, Bruno Labbadia, who coached at the BayArena last year, made just a single change to the squad that earned a 3-1 home win over Anderlecht on Thursday. At right back, Guy Demel replaced Tomas Rincon.

Despite visiting a strong team in a hostile atmosphere, Hamburg looked the more dangerous side in the early play. Leverkusen played a high offside trap, and with quick, technically gifted attackers moving forward from all positions, the visitors were more adept in carving out opportunities.

After 11 minutes, Mladen Petric had the first opportunity to open the scoring, but his first touch was slightly too strong. Eljero Elia had slipped a well-weighted through ball to the Croatian international, who showed a bit too much of the ball to Leverkusen goalkeeper Rene Adler, and saw his toe-poke miss just wide of the right post.

Petric' close call breathed life into the hosts, and an end-to-end sequence began. The visitors still looked a bit more in control, especially in the centre of the park, but Leverkusen did have their chances. Tranquillo Barnetta's volley on 17 minutes was recorded as a great opportunity wasted, but the Swiss international atoned for his mistakes on 22 minutes, when he played a perfect ball betweeen the Hamburg centrla defenders, who were caught napping. Stefan Kiessling raced past Joris Mathijsen to claim the ball, bore down on goal, and fired into the net.

After opening the scoring, Leverkusen played with their tails up and went forward in search of another. Renato Auguto's snap shot forced a good save from Frank Rost before Vidal's effort from inside the box was blocked as it approached the goal.

Instead, it was Hamburg that scored next, and under rather fortunate circumstances. Joris Mathijsen's long ball over the top fell between Adler and Sami Hyypia, but the two failed to communicate and Adler was only able to punch the ball a few meters away as the two collided. The ball fell in front of Ze Roberto, who volleyed from 20 yards into an open net to level the score.

After conceding, Leverkusen reacted well, and punned the visitors back into their own half. Hamburg defended well, however, and limited the hosts to a single chance. Late in the half, Gonzalo Castro blasted a shot from distance that Rost could only parry into the path of Kiessling. The German striker had to pull the ball down, during which time Mathijsen recovered. The two scrambled for the ball, but the Dutch defender won a foul. Mathijsen may have done well for his team, but he took a nasty blow to his face as Kiessling fell on top of him and required quick stitching from the medics. During his time off the pitch, Leverkusen failed to capitalize, however, and the first half ended in a 1-1 draw.

At the start of the second half, the hosts continued to push forward, keeping Hamburg on their heels. The Leverkusen seen after the opening minutes was completely unlike that which lost to Nuernberg last week: alert, committed, and brimming with creativity, the hosts were simply too much for Hamburg to combat.

Nine minutes into the half, Manuel Friedrich's header clanged off the crossbar and post with Rost stranded, and it felt like only a matter of time before the hosts grabbed the go-ahead goal.


Seconds later, Daniel Schwaab played in another superb cross, which Eren Derdiyok did brilliantly to head into the lower-right corner of goal.

The hosts were not yet satisfied, and came out looking for even more. Shortly after the hour mark, Renato Augusto dribbled into the penalty area and flashed the ball across the face of goal. Kiessling dived to head in from close range, completing his brace.

With 20 minutes to go, Barnetta and Vidal came close to making it 4-1, but the Swiss' shot was parried, and the Chilean narrlowly missed.

With the result all but decided, Labbadia substituted aging stars Ruud van Nistelrooij and Ze Roberto in favor of Marcus Berg and Jonathan Pitroipa, and it seemed as though the visitors had given up.

Both sides seemed to be simply going through the motions of finishing up a decided game until the 83rd minute, when David Rozehnal stuck a leg out to fire in a sliding volley from Piotr Trochowski's free kick. The Leverkusen defense had simply watched the ball fly by, and Rozehnal capitalized on the hosts' sluggish defense. With the score 3-2, fans in the BayArena were prepared for a nail-biting finish.

But it was not to be. Leverkusen were quick to restart, and broke forward with numbers. Derdiyok teed up Castro for a shot from just under 18 yards, and the former German U-21 international blasted past Rost to restore Leverkusen's two-goal lead.

Castro's strike finally did put the match to rest. Kiessling and Elia traded good chances late, but neither was able to score, and the match ended in a 4-2 win for the hosts, who moved to within a point of Schalke. Hamburg remain fifth, but just a point ahead of Werder Bremen.

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