It was long time ago when Bayer Leverkusen lost a game. In fact, Real Sociedad did that (1-0) back in July 2023, in a friendly, pre-season game. Apart from that, Bochum was the last team to defeat Leverkusen, in May this year, on the last day of the season, with a 3-0 score. From that point on, coach Xabi Alonso managed only wins and draws (Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund), including all competitions – Bundesliga, Europa League and the German Cup. And the Spanish tactician, having won one cup with Bayern as player doesn’t take that competition lightly. He included almost all his top 11 players against Bundesliga 2 team Paderborn and won comfortably 3-1, to advance to the quarterfinals, which is the first time Bayer went that far since 2019/20 season, when they reached all the way, only to lose to Bayern 4-2 in the final game.🚨🇳🇬 GOAL! Victor Boniface scores for Bayer Leverkusen pic.twitter.com/kWLLT5Z2WY— Football View (@FootballViewYT) December 6, 2023 🚨 Goal! Exequiel Palacios with a great goal!Bayer Leverkusen 2-0 SC Paderborn 07 pic.twitter.com/xG5BG26sRk— Footy Tekker (@FootyTekker) December 6, 2023 Bayer Leverkusen 3 : 1 PaderbornGoal Scorer: Schick pic.twitter.com/MNx74uqLk3— Luxxfet (@luxxfet) December 6, 2023 Middle of the pack Paderborn (10th in the second-tier, seven points from playoff, five points from relegation) showed no resistance against Leverkusen’s strong first 11, with top scorer Boniface (13 goals in all competition) leading the line, along with left wing-back Alejandro Grimaldo (second scorer with nine), Granit Xhaka, Frimpong, Palasios and Wirtz. Coach Xabi didn’t want to risk anything at this stage of the cup, especially since in the previous round, his team allowed Sandhausen to score two goals and keep the score 2-2 until the 85th minute. Also, Paderborn got throuht to this round after winning away at Freiburg.Leverkusen’s transfer guru opts to stay with the gigantic Wirtz sale loomingNigerian Boniface needed only 11 minutes to score his 14th goal of the season in all competition. Florian Wirtz played a first-time pass out to Stanisic, whose inch-perfect cross from the right was converted into a goal by Boniface. Palacios exchanged passes with Frimpong in the 28th minute and scored the second one for the home team. The game ‘killer’ was supposed to come really quickly, but Leverkusen’s third goal was disallowed three times due to offside, so when the guests scored their only goal in the 83rd minute, home crowd were a bit uncomfortable. But Patrik Schick came in and relieved everybody in Leverkusen in the 87th minute.DFB POKAL – GERMAN CUP1/8 FINALSTuesdayB. Monchengladbach – Wolfsburg 1-0 (0-0) AET/Kone 120/FC 08 Homburg – St. Pauli 1-4 (1-1)/Mendler 28 – Wahl 24, Saad 64, Hartel 69, Eggestein 73/Kaiserslautern – Nurnberg 2-0 (0-0)/Tachie 75, Ache 78/Magdeburg – Dusseldorf 1-2 (1-0)/Atik 15 – Niemiec 87, 90+2/WednesdaySaarbrucken – Eintr.Frankfurt 2-0 (0-0)/Brunker 64 Kerber 78/Leverkusen – Paderborn (2-0)/Boniface 11, Palacios 28, Schick 87 – Klass 83/22:45: (2.25) Stuttgart (3.70) Dortmund (3.20)22:45: (2.70) Hertha (3.45) Hamburger (2.55)***odds are subject to change***
