Bayer Leverkusen got their Champions League campaign back on track with a 5-0 home win over RB Salzburg on Tuesday, with Florian Wirtz scoring twice and the visitors having goalkeeper Alexander Schlager to thank for avoiding an even bigger defeat.
Leverkusen’s return to winning ways, after they were beaten 4-0 at Liverpool and drew 1-1 with Brest, moves them on to 10 points while Salzburg remain on three points after suffering their fourth defeat in five matches.
The home side raced into an early lead with Wirtz scoring from the penalty spot in the eighth minute and Alejandro Grimaldo netting from a free kick three minutes later.
Wirtz scored again on the half-hour as Leverkusen threatened to run riot and Patrik Schick added a fourth goal 16 minutes after the break before Aleix Garcia rounded off the win 18 minutes from time.
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Xabi Alonso’s side could easily have been further out of sight at halftime as the Germans found it far too easy to find their way into the Salzburg area.
The game was two minutes old when Wirtz signalled the danger, twisting and turning in the area before getting a shot away which the keeper got a hand to.
It took a penalty to open the scoring, with Salzburg’s Samson Baidoo punished for a handball, and Wirtz sending keeper Schlager the wrong way.
They doubled their lead when a foul on Wirtz just outside the area led to the free kick and Schlager could only stand and watch as Grimaldo’s strike sailed into the opposite corner.
Wirtz then scored his fifth goal in five games in the competition when he collected Grimaldo’s pass on the edge of the area before dribbling past two defenders and sending his low shot into the far corner.
Schlager pulled off saves from Grimaldo, Jeremie Frimpong, Exequiel Palacios and Granit Xhaka and Salzburg manager Pep Lijnders probably felt relieved when he took a glance at the scoreboard before walking off at the break.
Leverkusen’s intensity dropped a little after the restart but it was still all too simple to create chances and when Frimpong sent a perfect ball into the area Schick had the simplest of tap-ins.
Alonso began to make changes, and it was one of the substitutes Aleix Garcia who got on the end of a Wirtz cross to send a powerful shot into the net to finish off the scoring.
Up next for Leverkusen is another home game when they face Inter Milan while Salzburg host Paris St Germain.
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