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Bundesliga: Leverkusen defeat Gladbach in another thriller

Michael Da Silva in Leverkusen
November 8, 2020

Lucas Alario scored twice as Bayer Leverkusen turned on the style to defeat Borussia Mönchengladbach as the Bundesliga delivered another goalfest. It’s a victory that shakes up the early stages of the top-four race.

https://p.dw.com/p/3l1uG
Alario scores for Leverkusen
Image: Maik Hölter/Team 2/imago images

Leverkusen 4-3 Gladbach, BayArena
(Alario 27', 41', Bailey 68', Baumgartlinger 82' — Stindl 18' pen., 29', Lazaro 90+3')

When a decision goes to VAR (video assistant referee) in the Bundesliga, fans are informed by a double beep so loud that it reverberates around the stadium before bursting the ear drums of anyone over 40.

That sound rang twice in the first half, and Gladbach got the rub of the green on both occasions. The first was to disallow a silky Nadiem Amiri strike for Leverkusen soon after they fell behind for the first time, and the second was to allow Lars Stindl's second for Gladbach. The latter came after forensic-level analysis and multiple replays by the VAR team in Cologne.

Gladbach can be relieved that the reviews kept them in the game though, because Leverkusen were the more impressive team in this compelling contest. On a weekend when Europe's highest scoring league averaged almost four goals a game, this was another high-octane feast of attacking football.

Lars Stindl shoots
Lars Stindl's brace wasn't enough for GladbachImage: Ina Fassbender/AFP POOL/dpa/picture alliance

Race for the top four

As Bayern, Dortmund and RB Leipzig gradually tighten their grip on the league with each passing season, Leverkusen and Gladbach have been the best of the rest — and this game was played like an early audition for next season's Champions League.

Gladbach nudged Leverkusen into the Europa League by just two points on the final day of last season, and were out to prove a point. In typical Leverkusen style though, their more dangerous start was abruptly ended by conceding a penalty.

Leverkusen's leveler came through the red-hot Lucas Alario not long after. The Argentine is grasping his opportunity following the departures of some of their chief goal threats, and his first goal was a peach – a beautifully curled shot following a rapid breakaway.

The game's back-and-forth nature continued. Stindl and VAR combined to put Gladbach back ahead, and then Alario's header — his seventh in his last seven games — drew the hosts level again.

It is hard to believe that Leverkusen weren't ahead in this game until the 68th minute, but when the goal came it showcased the very best of Peter Bosz's side in one brilliant counterattack.

Florian Wirtz, whose poise and vision bellies his 17 years, engineered the break with a deft change of direction and through ball for Moussa Diaby. The Frenchman slipped in Leon Bailey, and the Jamaican delicately squeezed the ball past Yann Sommer in the Gladbach goal — scoring a goal that Leverkusen will hope kick starts his season.

Not even Valentino Lazaro's contender for goal of the season late on could stop Leverkusen, who won another thrilling Bundesliga game in style.