Bayer Leverkusen waste an opportunity in loss to Bayern Munich in UEFA Champions League round of 16

A few minutes in the second half it was clear that Bayer Leverkusen was surpassed by Bayern Munich. Most meaningful statistics tilted in favor of Bayern, especially in the attack – they had surpassed nine to three by that time and were already a goal. For a long time Bayern -midfielder Joshua Kimmich enjoyed a striking evening, while star stiker Harry Kane delivered the goods with the opening goal of the game only nine minutes inside.

However, the thing about a two -penny draw is that a one goal lead may not mean much in the big schedule of things. Even if Leverkusen manager Xabi Alonso had not received things well to start the first stage, the possibility was that his talented team could find a way back here by the time that the last whistle blew in the second stage of next week, very real.

And then Leverkusen blew it.

In a second half of the nightmares, Leverkusen registered one valuable error after the other. The first came in the 54th minute, when goalkeeper Matej Kovar was confronted with a shot that he seemed to gather ready, and a little jumped while he threw his body a little to the left. Instead, however, the ball was sent back to a busy penalty as soon as he hit his glove. Jamal Musiala was the one who scored a goal there was for the picking up, although he was far from the only one who could have had, and Bayern’s narrow one goalkeeper became a much more comfortable two goal advantage.

The feeling that Leverkusen would have a mountain to climb if they were to move forward, only sinks when the day of bad went to worse. Eight minutes after the goal of Musiala, Nordi Mukiele Kingsley coman noticed and threw his studs on the back of the Bayern player’s calf. Mukiel immediately noticed the mistake and made the shocked expression of someone who did not intend to do something like that, but immediately knew the consequences of his actions. The defender received a second yellow card and was off the field and will now miss the second stage of next week.

As if it wasn’t bad enough for Leverkusen at that time, they added a big mistake to the list. Edmond Tapsoba stood up in the 68th minute and four minutes after entering the field, he clearly polluted Kane in the penalty area and admitted a penalty. The always reliable Kane did not miss the place, noted his 13th Spotkick of the season and gave Bayern what feels like an indisputable 3-0 lead.

The series of mistakes meant a surprise of unraveling for Leverkusen, who had a reason to be optimistic to get into the draw. Bayern was not only vulnerable with this Champions League season, including in a closely affected knock-out phase Playoff-equal game with Celtic, Leverkusen had applied their game plan weeks earlier. The side of Alonso was unlucky when they registered a 0-0-drawing game against Bayern last month in Bundesliga Play, where they registered more than two expected goals, while the opposition placed none of their two shots on goal.

Overcoming a 3-0 deficit is not exactly impossible for Leverkusen, especially since Bayern has only saved three clean sheets in 11 Champions League matches this season. Leverkusen has the talent to get a strong show in the return bone, although even if Florian Wirtz and Company come out in good shape, Bayern can survive one – or two – defensive. There is no doubt that the ruling Bundesliga champions are a talented side and have earned their place in the top eight of the competition phase. A year after their double -winning season of the dream, however, Leverkusen have to do with the harsh reality of the Champions League and seem doomed to learn it in the hard way.