Bayer Leverkusen slumped to a 2-1 home defeat at the hands of FC Koln in the anticipated Rhine derby overnight.
Koln fans were in full voice, witnessing a great victory, while the home side faithful are left to ponder an underwhelming Leverkusen showing.
A brace from Dominic Maroh was enough to seal three points away, despite a goal from the in-form Javier Hernandez. The two most influential players of the were defenders in Maroh and Marcel Risse. A cloud of dismay continues to pour havoc on Roger Schmidt, the defeat is their fifth domestic loss of 2015-16 and it leaves his men in eighth position. Peter Stoger’s side now leapfrog Leverkusen to move into seventh.
Bayer Leverkusen (4-2-3-1)
Bernd Leno – 6: Made some impressive saves, in particular an early denial to a fiery Anthony Modeste strike.
Wendell – 5: The Brazilian endured an unusual stint at right-back, although he looked eager to get involved in attacks, there were numerous occasions where he made errors, notably when he lost the ball cheaply in defence early-on.
Jonathan Tah – 5.5: Started well in the proceedings by imposing himself in defence, but it was a below-par appearance for the 19-year-old.
Kyriakos Papadopoulos – 3.5: A nightmare 53 minutes for the Greek youngster, his failed defensive header allowed Maroh to open the scoring. He was sent-off in the 53rd minute for his last man challenge on Modeste.
Sebastian Boenisch – 7: The most efficient Leverkusen player in defence, distribution was decent and he attempted three shots on goal.
Kevin Kampl – 7: One of Leverkusen’s brighter performers, defended well when required to. Came incredibly close to scoring a great goal following a clever Admir Mehmedi dummy. Was the architect in the home side’s goal, a spell of fancy footwork allowed the Slovenian space to deliver the key pass to the assister in Mehmedi.
Omer Toprak – 4.5: Yet another start in a holding-midfield role, disappointing performance but he improved when transitioning to centre-back.
Karim Bellarabi – 6: His day was cut short as he was substituted at halftime, perhaps an injury precaution. However, his first-half performance was rather vibrant, demonstrating this with a couple of decent runs and an outstanding cross narrowly missed by Hernandez.
Hakan Calhanoglu – 5: Delivered a couple of decent set pieces but beyond that he failed to orchestrate anything significant.
Admir Mehmedi – 7: Sacrificed in the 56th minute following his teammate’s sending-off, a real shame considering his great performance in the initial stages. Provided a superb dummy almost resulting in a goal and the assist for the Hernandez equaliser.
Javier Hernandez – 7.5: Came agonisingly close to giving his side the lead in the 12th minute, forcing a corner. He levelled the scores in the 32nd minute, brilliantly nodding home.
Substitutes
Julian Brandt – 4.5: Entered the field of play at halftime, looked lively at times but failed to impact the match.
Andre Ramalho Silva – 4.5: Received rare game time due to the red card, the Brazilian failed to influence the match.
Stefan Kiessling – N/A: Featured for just 12 minutes.
Chicharito has now scored in each of his last 6 appearances for Leverkusen across all competitions. #Bayer04 #B04KOE
— Gracenote Live (@GracenoteLive) November 7, 2015
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