Bellarabi Saved Bayer Leverkusen from a Defeat at Home

The beauty of fall season could not represent the mood at Bay Arena on Saturday afternoon as Bayer Leverkusen had to fight harder to secure a point on matchday 8. Die Werkself played against Hannover 96 which stand below their spot on the Bundesliga table.

Being a host could not help Bayer Leverkusen to battle their opponents down. The squad had a golden chance at first half after the Hannover’s centre back, Felipe, did a handball at penalty area. VAR and the referee granted them a penalty kick, but Wendell failed to put the ball into the net as it was saved in the bottom right corner. On the other hand, it was Hannover who finally took a lead on the 25^th minute from a free kick by Florent Muslija. Luckily, it did not have to take a long time for Leverkusen to level the game. It was Lars Bender who shot the ball from the right side of the box and hit the bottom left corner of the net.

As a matter of fact, Bayer Leverkusen had plenty of opportunities to lock three points up at home.  Yet, it seemed that lucks could not get even closer to them as they kept failing to create goals despite the numerous chances and their ball possession. Besides, Hannover defended very well during the 90-minute game. Once again, Hradecky had to take the ball from his net when Felipe scored to bring Hannover up with 2-1 before he got his second yellow card for another hand ball. Still, Leverkusen could not take the advantage to beat the 10-men squad. Herrlich then made some changes by playing Leon Bailey and Karim Bellarabi who started as subtitutes and it providentially worked. Bellarabi became the savior for Leverkusen when he finally netted a goal on stoppage time.

The game ended with a 2-2 draw as the result and a point for each team. The score was indisputably disappointing for the home team. Heiko Herrlich spoke as quoted from Bayer Leverkusen’s twitter that, “The resut is a disappointment for all of us. Unfortunately, we are currently lacking of simplicity, self confidence, and also a bit of luck in some situations.”