Bayer Leverkusen’s Woltemade: A Surprise Emergence

The sentences about the key scene in this game sounded almost identical, in which the German international Nick Woltemade, playing for Newcastle United, achieved a rare feat. “Unfortunately, Nick also did it cleverly,” said Leverkusen captain Robert Andrich about the situation that led to England’s temporary 1-1 draw. “He then cleverly puts his foot out,” explained goalkeeper Mark Flekken about this groundbreaking situation.

With his actually very pronounced cleverness, Woltemade had given the game a decisive turn in that 50th minute, and the special thing about it was that he hadn’t even touched the ball.

With a clever run, he provoked a small technical error by Flekken, and then provoked a penalty with a clever movement into the Leverkusen goalkeeper’s body. “That was a clear mistake and it was my fault,” said Flekken after Anthony Gordon converted the subsequent penalty.

There wasn’t much more to see from Woltemade in this entertaining game, but this one moment was worth a lot for his team. “Against an opponent like that, you have to survive the quarter hour after halftime,” said Flekken. That’s exactly what failed due to Woltemade’s skill, as a result of which Newcastle even took a 2-1 lead (Lewis Miley, 67th) before Alejandro Grimaldo equalized again shortly before the end (88th).

But no one blamed Flekken for this faux pas; The goalkeeper, who moved from Brentford to the Rhine in the summer, has recently stabilized significantly after a weak start to the season. “In Mark, we have a goalkeeper who plays out from the back, who often does it very, very well and who has held up excellently in the last few weeks,” said sports director Simon Rolfes.

The Woltemade Flekken moment was the consequence of this highly demanding Leverkusen style of play, in which a lot of quality was evident. The team of coach Kasper Hjulmand, who was absent that evening for “personal reasons”, tried to free themselves from the enormous pressure from the English with risky ball relays. Newcastle closed the spaces with the man-to-man strategy, which is currently “state of the art” in top-class football. In most cases, Bayer 04 still found playful solutions without having to hit long balls.

“I think the team has developed well in the last few weeks,” said Rolfes. Apart from rare exceptions such as the defeat in Augsburg last weekend, Leverkusen is playing like a top team again and offers an excellent climate for individual progress. Defender Jarrel Quansah has found a stable form, winger Ernest Poku is exceeding all expectations, Aleix Garcia has become a brilliant ball distributor, Malik Tillman is becoming more and more of a defining factor, and Grimaldo always plays well anyway.

Ibrahim Maza, the 20-year-old newcomer from Hertha BSC, who seemingly effortlessly made the jump from the second division to the Champions League level, was particularly impressive that evening. Not just as a follower, but as a mature combination player, a strong tackler and a source of ideas. “He learns so quickly, he is always so attentive to take the next step, this development is excellent and also has to do with his personality,” said Hjulmand the week before after Maza scored the winning goal in the DFB Cup in Dortmund.

That evening, the midfielder prepared Grimaldo’s 2-2 with a difficult but very precise pass. This clarity shortly before the final whistle of a Champions League game was just as strong as Maza’s overall performance and had a major influence on Leverkusen’s starting position, which could have been even better if the Dutch referee team had assessed a scene in the 21st minute a little differently.

A foul by German national player Malik Thiaw on Patrik Schick could also have been assessed as “preventing a clear scoring opportunity” and punished with a red card. “I have rarely seen such a fatal mistake,” said Andrich, who had made it 1-0 shortly before this moment with a header into the back of the own-goal scorer Bruno Guimaraes (13th).

In this game in particular, a powerplay would have had a big impact if the team was in the lead. And yet the overall feeling of the Leverkusen team at the end of the evening was one of satisfaction. “We are in a good position, we have the opportunity not only to make the playoffs,” but also to qualify directly for the round of 16, said Rolfes before the remaining duels at Olympiakos Piraeus and against Villarreal FC.

Bayer 04 is only in 20th place in the table, but the gap is small. With another six points there would actually be a good chance of getting into the top eight.