Wirtz wonderful as five-star Leverkusen crush Salzburg

Xabi Alonso’s side returned to UEFA Champions League action and played host to RB Salzburg. A 5-0 win yielded all three points for Die Werkself on Matchday 5.

Bayer Leverkusen romped to victory this evening at a chilly BayArena as RB Salzburg came to town. There was nothing frosty about Xabi Alonso’s men who produced a blistering start to surge into an unassailable lead. A win that could prove vital as Die Werkself turn the corner into the back straight of the Champions League group phase with tricky fixtures against Internazionale and Atlético Madrid to come.

Samson Baidoo’s handball afforded Florian Wirtz the opportunity to open the scoring in the 8th-minute by sending Alexander Schlager the wrong way from the penalty spot. Three minutes later, Alejandro Grimaldo curled a sumptuous freekick over the Salzburg wall and into the top left corner. Schlager proved vital in keeping Leverkusen at bay for a while thereafter. However, there was little the Austrian shot-stopper could do to as Wirtz played a one-two with Grimaldo to make it 3-0 before the break.

A rather dissatisfied Pep Lijnders made a triple substitution after the interval as Mads Bistrup, Stefan Bajcetic and Daouda Guindo looked to wrestle some control of the game for the visitors. To the misfortune of Salzburg, the latter of those three alterations was caught napping defensively. Jeremie Frimpong raced in behind the Malian full-back and squared for Schick to tap home. 

Continuing to show their class superiority, Leverkusen notched a fifth in the 72nd-minute. Once again, Florian Wirtz played a vital role in picking the perfect cut back pass to Aleix Garcia. The Spaniard perhaps a tad fortunate as Schlager’s left arm wasn’t strong enough to keep the ball out of the net. With the damage done and time to spare, Alonso even handed debuts to the 17-year-old duo of Artem Stepanov and Francis Onyeka as Florian Wirtz departed to a standing ovation.