Not even the most pessimistic could have imagined such a catastrophic start. Instead, Bayer Leverkusen surprised everyone, but in a negative way. Two defeats in the first two days of the Bundesliga and Aspirine are unable to move away from zero points, the only team still without any, along with Bochum. Gerardo Seoane’s men, after losing by a narrow margin (1-0) in the opener against Borussia Dortmund – a foreseeable misstep in any case, given that the yellow-and-whites are the second force in the championship – were also left empty-handed against Augsburg (1-2) in the opener in front of their own fans. The ‘crisis’, if you can call it that, goes back a long way: Bayer were also surprised in the first round of the German Cup by Elversberg, who play in the German third division.
Seoane is likely to make substantial line-up changes for the match against Hoffenheim, in which his team will be looking for their first positive result of the season. The infirmary is still full – Adli, Bellarabi and Lunev are out with injuries, as is the youngster Wirtz, who will be out for several weeks – but the former Young Boys coach will be hoping above all to get Patrik Schick’s goals back, as he was without a goal both in Dortmund and in last weekend’s match against Augsburg.
Hoffenheim did not enchant either in this first part of the Bundesliga, but in the last day the Sinsheim club somehow redeemed the heavy defeat suffered on the opening day at the home of Borussia Monchengladbach and did it by overturning Bochum after having even finished 2-0 down in the first fifteen minutes of the game. Baumgartner, Kabak and Dabbur were the authors of the three goals that gave the first smile to coach Andre Breitenreiter, who last May took over the legacy of Sebastian Hoeness.
Andre Breitenreiter ©️Ansafoto
The Prediction
Who is hungrier for points is certainly Bayer Leverkusen, who must redeem their poor start to the season. The Aspirins will in all likelihood manage to avoid defeat in a match in which Hoffenheim should also score.
Bayer Leverkusen-Hoffenheim’s likely line-up
BAYER LEVERKUSEN (4-2-3-1): Hradecky; Frimpong, Tah, Tapsoba, Bakker; Palacios, Andrich; Diaby, Azmoun, Hlozek; Schick.
HOFFENHEIM (3-4-1-2): Baumann; Kabak, Vogt, Posch; Skov, Prömel, Geiger, Angelino; Baumgartner; Kramaric, Bruun Larsen.
POSSIBLE RESULT: 3-2
