Leverkusen make light work of Elversberg

Xabi Alonso opted for fresh legs as his side took on 2.Bundesliga outfit SC Elversberg in Pokal action tonight. A brace from Patrik Schick, and an Aleix Garcia freekick cemented a routine 3-0 victory.

The reigning Bundesliga champions lined out with a rotated squad at the BayArena as Elversberg came to town, but Alonso’s men made light work of their opponents. Aside from Granit Xhaka, Edmond Tapsoba, and captain Jonathan Tah, the Spanish head coach gave game time to peripheral names who duly seized the limelight this evening.

None more so than Patrik Schick demonstrated his offensive prowess as he opened the scoring in the 2nd-minute. The Czechia international capitalised on Nathan Tella’s cross to steer home. Seven minutes later and Schick netted his second – Jonas Hofmann delivered from the right, Nicolas Kristof failed to gather, and the 28-year-old squeezed the ball inside the left upright. Aleix Garcia wowed the masses with a sumptuous freekick on 36 minutes. The midfielder curled the ball from right to left before nestling in the top corner. 

With the damage already done on the scoreboard, Elversberg had little more than pride to play for. The plucky underdogs almost reduced the arrears in the 57th-minute after a scramble in the box. Gerezgiher and Pinckert’s goal-bound shots were spectacularly repelled by Matej Kovár. With further cavalry arriving from the bench late on, Grimaldo and Boniface almost added a fourth. The Nigerian striker latched onto the cross but couldn’t get the better of Kristof.