Baying for blood
Bayer leave sad Frankfurt bewitched as Germans head to Ibrox in ominous form
Bayer Leverkusen ...... 4 Eintracht Frankfurt ... 0 Rangers will need to produce some Ibrox magic this week with even rivals admitting they are bewitched by the brilliance of Bayer Leverkusen.
The Bundesliga big guns had Eintracht Frankfurt under their spell yesterday as they conjured up an easy win ahead of Thursday’s Europa League first leg showdown in Glasgow.
“It was like bewitched,” sighed Sebastian Rode after his side got the runaround at the Bay Arena.
Bayer’s £19m Brazillian superstar Paulinho was handed his first start and he stole the show with a second-half double but there were plenty of others out there to suggest they will be as tough as it gets for Gers this week.
It says it all that Frankfurt’s manager Adi Hutter claimed Leverkusen are the dark horses to wrestle the Bundesliga off Bayern Munich this Hd season.
Bayer have never won the German title – with some scamps labelling then
Ha Neverkusen after a run of second place finishes at the turn of the century.
But they don’t have the look of nearly pa men right now.
Kai Havertz and Karim Bellarabi fired Peter Bosz’s men to an early two-goal lead and they coasted to victory with room to spare.
Bosz might have a few injury problems
– with Bender brothers Lars and Sven both among the list of struggling stars.
But there is still plenty of spellbinding talent in reserve to make life tough for
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Steven Gerrard’s side.
Gers will need to come up with a plan mt to tame the lethal Leverkusen front three for a start. mU
Paulinho, Havertz and Diaby are more than a handful and the worrying thing for the Light Blues is they are flying at the moment.
Bayer are bang in form, having lost just once in 2020 and won 11 out of their last 13 games in all competitions.
On the way they’ve bashed up Borussia Dortmund in the Bundesl iga and pummelled Porto in the Europa League.
This time it was Eintracht Frankfurt’s turn to get the Bayer treatment.
Bosz’s side have a swagger and they swatted aside their rivals yesterday while barely breaking in to a sweat.
They were ahead inside four minutes, two up after 14 and it was cigars out time from then on. The danger is clear. Bayer’s 4-3-3 formation is pretty fluid, as the full backs pour forward and the front three rotate.
Brazillian Paulinho is the main man up top but he can peel wide, while France under 21 star Moussa Diaby provides the service from the left flank.
It was that side who carved Frankfurt open for both the early goals. Diaby got in behind to square for Havertz to tap in the opener and 10 minutes later it was Paulinho who burst in after being picked out by a sublime pass from Charles Aranguiz.
This time it was attacker Bellarabi who was at the front of the queue lining up in the six- yard box to f inish it off the excellent low cross.
It was quick, slick and lethal. And the cushion allowed Bayer to make it a Saturday stroll in the spring sunshine.
Frankfurt had actually gone close to pinching the lead in the opening few seconds. Centre backs Edmond Tapsoba and Bender were caught napping and it allowed Daichi Kamada to force Lukas Hradecky in to a smart stop.
The Finland international – who is a national team-mate of Gers playmaker Glen Kamara – could have taken the rest of the afternoon off.
Rangers won’t have that luxury on Thursday. Keeping tabs on the Leverkusen front three will need full attention. Particularly Paulinho. The
Brazillian kid is class and his goal to make it 3- 0 five minutes in to the second half was sublime.
He got the break of the ball when trying to beat his man, but he superbly dropped a shoulder to get free, showed a rapid turn of pace and a cool head to slam in to the bottom corner.
His second was equa l ly impressive. Havertz bri l l iantly unravelled the Frankfurt back line with a through ball and Paulinho provided the cute finish.
At that stage the Rangers scouts might have been tempted to hit the road and get a head start in working out a way to break the bad news to their gaffer.
But they might have spotted a few chinks in the armour. Not many, granted, but Bayer were a little careless at the back at times.
It can happen when you’re cruising, but there were a few moments of casual indecision, and if Frankfurt had been sharper they might have been punished.
Bender limping off was the only downside for Bosz, a lthough the Dutchman seems pretty relaxed at present with his side in their current spellbinding form.