BVB fortress falls only once: Leverkusen's winning streak ends

The flow from the San Siro reached all the way to the BayArena. Right from the first attack of the match, BVB executed it perfectly from the left to the center, where Füllkrug held his ground with his back to the goal against Tapsoba and perfectly set up Ryerson. The full-back confidently finished past Hradecky to give Dortmund an early lead (5th minute).

Ryerson had shifted from the right to the left side in the BVB formation due to Bensebaini's illness. Wolf entered the starting eleven as a replacement. The second change from the 3-1 victory against AC Milan occurred in the offensive, where the former Leverkusen player Brandt got the nod over Malen.

Leverkusen Dominant - Wirtz's Equalizer Denied

Leverkusen coach Xabi Alonso, unsurprisingly, rotated back to his well-practiced starting lineup after the 2-0 victory against BK Häcken in the Europa League with a B-team. He made eight changes to the lineup. The team started with the well-coordinated main formation that Bayer 04 had used for the majority of the Bundesliga season. Despite the early setback, they seemed unfazed. Leverkusen demonstrated ball dominance and occasionally penned in BVB. However, the guests defended extremely focused in the box, forcing Leverkusen to primarily take long-distance shots: Xhaka (21st minute) and Grimaldo (31st minute) came closest to equalizing."

As the game progressed, Leverkusen became increasingly dominant, and Dortmund increasingly entrenched themselves with almost all players around their own penalty area. Wirtz seemingly rewarded the hosts with a spectacular volley, but the goal was overturned by VAR due to an earlier offside position by Boniface (45+1).

Schick's first action leads to the equalizer. After the restart, little changed in the overall situation. Dortmund entrenched themselves in front of their own penalty area and placed little emphasis on ball possession. However, they were extremely well-organized, especially in the center. Leverkusen repeatedly attempted intricate combinations, with one leading to the best equalizing chance by Palacios (62nd minute). Dortmund only managed their first dangerous attempt through Füllkrug in the middle of the second half (68th minute).

During this phase, Leverkusen lost dominance for the first time in the match, prompting Xabi Alonso to make an offensive change. Schick came on for Palacios and immediately contributed to the long-awaited equalizer with his first action: After a dribble by Kossounou, the substitute had plenty of space on the right side of the penalty area and the vision to find Boniface, who only had to tap in from close range (79th minute).

In the final minutes, both teams had a good header chance each (Schick 88th minute, Füllkrug 90+5), but neither could land a lucky punch. Leverkusen remains the league leader with the draw, but now has only a three-point lead over FC Bayern, who still has a game in hand and a superior goal difference.