Leverkusen revived under new coach! However, Schick and Hložek came up empty. How did they do under the Spanish legend?

A clash of two teams that had a decidedly unsuccessful start to the season. Leverkusen welcomed Schalke on Saturday afternoon. This time, however, it was not Gerardo Seoane, but new coach Xabi Alonso. Under the Spanish legend, the Bayer players came alive and scored a clear victory. Patrik Schick and Adam Hložek also featured in the match.

Leverkusen as we know it from last season

Bayer Leverkusen were considered to be among the obvious aspirants for a Champions League place and even the title before the start of the season, but the reality is completely different. The front team is languishing at the bottom of the Bundesliga, even Patrik Schick is struggling. Gerardo Seoane simply couldn’t stand this.

In the week he was replaced as coach by the legendary Xabi Alonso, whose first engagement in the elite league competition. Of course, he couldn’t achieve miracles in a short time, but at least he could instil a new impetus and a good dose of motivation in the team.

And he did. Leverkusen played a very good game against Schalke. Lukáš Hrádecký had to intervene only once against the opponent’s shot, otherwise Bayer did not let Schalke do anything and on the contrary, he played as he did last season.

Straightforward, fast, efficient. And that’s how the result turned out. A 4:0 win is absolutely in line with the course of the match. The goals were scored by Moussa Diaby, Jeremie Frimpong (2 goals) and Paulinho.

How did Patrik Schick and Adam Hložek do?

Leverkusen did shoot in the match, but unfortunately neither of the Czech players made it into the stats. Patrik Schick started in the starting lineup and looked much better than in the previous matches.

Schick got a few chances, but he was simply not successful in finishing. One of his big chances was blocked by a defender, and in others he couldn’t hit the ball optimally.

In the 72nd minute, however, his compatriot was replaced by Adam Hložek, who then took his place on the spearhead. Unfortunately for the Moravian-born player, Leverkusen were already finishing the game. After all, the winner was decided and there was nowhere to go.

Hložek joined the combination a couple of times, once he received an interesting pass on the run behind the defense and quickly tried to finish it in a difficult position, but he didn’t score.

According to WhoScored, neither of them should be ashamed of their mark. Schick is rated 7.9, Hložek 6.4.

Source: Bayer Leverkusen, Bundesliga, WhoScored