U17s suffer unlucky 2-1 defeat

BVB gifted Leverkusen two opportunities from individual errors, with the outstanding Ken Izekor taking full advantage and punishing the carelessness by scoring two goals in the 24th and 28th minute. The first resulted from an indirect free-kick after goalkeeper Aaron Held had picked up a backpass from Elias Benkara with his hands, while Izekor profited from an unfortunate defensive lapse by the usually alert Valon Cena for the second one.

Göz Atın

Only Brandt nets for BVB in 1-1 draw with FSV

“The unsatisfying end to an unsatisfactory first half of the season”

Two completely different halves

That double-blow had an impact. The Black & Yellows sat off, allowed the strong footballing away team to link up through the midfield and only created a few attacking moves themselves. “You could see Leverkusen’s individual quality in the first half and notice that the team had already played in this line-up in the Bundesliga last year. We will hardly get a stronger opponent this season, although Bayer only registered two shots at our goal. But we were also afraid and showed too much respect,” analysed coach Marco Lehmann.

The performance from the Black & Yellows was totally different  the interval: they put Leverkusen under pressure with aggressiveness and intensity, and quickly rewarded themselves by pulling a goal back via Nick Cherny (49). Following the red card for Izekor (55), who had fouled Justin Hoy, the equaliser seemed to only be a matter of time for the now overwhelmingly dominant Borussia. BVB staged a power play, carving open and creating chances by the minute, but the ball would not end up in the Leverkusen net.

Lehmann: “The second half is encouraging”

Dzonga Ngambia, Tim Degener, Justin Hoy and Elias Benkara registered attempts – but they were either denied by the highly alert Jesper Schlich in the Leverkusen goal or they struck the leg of a Bayer defender. Referee Florian Buß disallowed a goal from Elias Benkara for offside (60). In addition, the visitors would have had no grounds for complaint if a penalty had been awarded for a foul on substitute Ousmane Diallo (90). Shortly before the final whistle at the end of almost 10 minutes of injury time, Leverkusen’s Neba Mensah scraped the ball off the goal line to keep the 2-1 margin intact. 

“The second half is encouraging because the team showed their true colours and produced a class performance,” said Marco Lehmann. The U17s will be away to SC Paderborn next Saturday.

BVB: Held – Cena, Benkara, Meiser, Feddersen – Ucar (Markötter, 84), Degener – Cherny, Hoy, (Diallo, 62), Schwarz (Fleck, 68) – Ngambia.
(wiwi)