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Leverkusen dominate with four-goal show against Union in home opener
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- Leverkusen dominate with four-goal show against Union in home opener
Leverkusen dominate with four-goal show against Union in home opener
1. FC Union Berlin (0-1-0, T-9th) make a trip from the capital to the southwest part of Nordrhein-Westfalen, to take on Europa League side Bayer 04 Leverkusen (0-0-1, T-13th) on a sunny, 20-degree Saturday afternoon in the second matchweek of the 2026/27 Bundesliga season.
Bayer 04 Leverkusen, under new 42-year-old Spanish head coach Carles Martínez Novell, saw a shocking start to their Bundesliga campaign, losing by a 2-3 result to newly-promoted side SV Elversberg 07. Patrick Schick and Christian Kofane scored for Die Werkself in the final thirteen minutes of the second half, but they were not able to find a late equaliser before referee Robert Hartmann called time on the match.
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Only two changes were made to the XI from the Elversberg match. Argentine Facundo Medina enters for Frenchman Loïc Badé at right centre-back, and Englishman Jarell Quansah enters at right-back in place of Spaniard Lucas Vázquez. French winger Moussa Diaby , who returned from a spell at Saudi Pro League club Al-Ittihad SC, was on the bench - but had the potential to make an instant impact, having scored four times in seven Bundesliga matches against Union between the 2019/20 and 2022/23 seasons.
1. FC Union Berlin, also under a new coach in 50-year-old Swiss Mauro Lustrinelli, were able to come back in their match and find a late equaliser to salvage a point; despite a third-minute header from Emmanuel Latte Lath, they fell 1-3 behind on a Younes Ebnoutalib hat-trick - but managed a pair of goals in the final eleven minutes, thanks to Leopold Querfeld and Tim Skarke .
Three changes were made to the XI from the Frankfurt match, with Danish goalkeeper Frederik Rønnow returning from an injury, German Felix Uduokhai replacing Austrian Leopold Querfeld at right centre-back, and Turkish Livan Burcu taking the place of Hungarian András Schäfer at left midfield.
Bayer 04 Leverkusen have won four of the last six meetings (4-1-1), but lost the most recent meeting at the Stadion An der Alten Försterei on 21. February - 0-1 on a twenty-eighth minute strike from Rani Khedira . The reverse meeting at BayArena on 4. October 2025 ended in a 2-0 victory for Leverkusen, on goals from Beşiktaş loanee Ernest Poku (33') and Kofane (49'). The positive for the hosts is that they remain undefeated against Union in nine meetings since the latter promoted to the Bundesliga for the first time in the 2019/20 season (5-3-0). The only meeting between the two before that was a DFB-Pokal match at BayArena in 2017, a 4-1 win for Die Werkself.
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Leverkusen kicked off the match, going left to right in the opening term; when on the counterattack, Union went right to left. Without Union even managing a single pass, Leverkusen were able to find the back of the net; it started with a pass to the left side of the goal area from Malik Tillman , which nearly ran out for a goal kick but was deflected by Miguel Gutiérrez. He played the ball back to Ezequiel Fernández , who slammed it past the leg of a sliding Michel Aebischer , past Rønnow and into the centre of the net to put the hosts in front.
Die Werkself nearly doubled their lead in the seventh minute, as Ibrahim Maza took a through ball from Fernández into the left side of the box. Turning to get a good shot off, the Berlin-born Algerian international powered the ball towards the top-left corner, but Rønnow got enough of it with both hands to deflect it away for an eventually unsuccessful corner.
Leverkusen would get another decent opportunity inside the box just three minutes later, as Tillman's header on the left side of the box found its way to Patrik Schick. The 30-year-old Czech international could not get enough of the ball to send it into the bottom-right corner, however, and Rønnow did not need to move too much to make a two-handed stop.
It would take Martínez Novell's side another ten minutes to find another dangerous opportunity, but it would come in the form of a twenty-first minute free kick, after Rani Khedira pulled back the uniform of Gutiérrez as the two contested for possession just outside the box. Aleix García stepped up to take the following set piece, deflecting off the head of a leaping Kemlein and just metres wide of the bottom-right corner to force an eventually blocked corner.
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Union had their first chance of the afternoon in the twenty-fifth minute, not that it would have counted as Emmanuel Latte Lath was slightly offside on a delayed through ball into the left side of the Leverkusen third from Marin Ljubičić. The hosts would almost instantly go the other way, eventually forcing a corner off the leg of Felix Uduokhai - which was then delivered far-post by García but smashed off the inside of the bar by a towering header from Schick.
It took only twenty seconds for Leverkusen to get another brilliant chance at goal - and they would take full advantage of it. Gutiérrez delivered another left-footed cross from the left side of the Union third, met by a powerful header into the right side of the goal by Medina to double the lead.
After a minute of pinballing football in the box, Leverkusen would press for a third with a shot from the edge of the area in the thirty-seventh minute. Maza played the ball short to Schick, who teed it up for an attempt from Fernández that would sail just over the top-right corner and away from danger.
After forty-five minutes plus the one minute of additional time, head official Robin Braun would send the two sides to the locker rooms with Bayer 04 Leverkusen leading 1. FC Union Berlin by two goals to none. The hosts were relentless, and the statistics clearly showed it: 12-1, 6-0 on target with twenty-three touches in the Union penalty area compared to just two in the Leverkusen box. Carles Martínez Novell's side held 70% possession and managed a 17% better pass accuracy, 91% on 290 completions to 74% on just 94.
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Ljubičić kicked off the second half for the visitors as they looked to overcome a two-goal deficit for the second consecutive week, but their momentum would be stopped within a minute and a half - as a sliding challenge from Zeno van den Bosch on Fernández was timed a bit too late and immediately led to a second consecutive week with a booking. That, and the yellow card from Uduokhai in the fifth minute, meant that both Union centre-backs were on cautions.
Leverkusen would make them pay almost instantly, certainly confirming the three points with a third strike. It was set up by Edmond Tapsoba , who managed a through ball to Quansah on the right side of the box. Quansah who in turn made a slicing pass into the centre of the box to Schick, and the Czech would tap the ball past a diving Rønnow, into the bottom-left corner.
In the fifty-third minute, Ljubičić weaved his way into the right side of the box before playing the ball short to Khedira. Before the ball could roll out, the Tunisian international would pass the ball back, hoping to find one of Tom Rothe or Aebischer - but four Leverkusen defenders got in front, and Quansah was able to deflect it away.
Ten minutes later, Maza would set up a cross from the left side of the box; it made its way to Schick, whose powerful half-volley was blasted just wide of the left post. Shortly after that, a pass from Tapsoba was flicked towards Schick by Maza, quickly going back to the Algerian before he sent a beautiful curling shot above a sprawling Rønnow, top-right.
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With Leverkusen having secured the victory, the rest of the match was relatively quiet, with the hosts knocking the ball around along the back line and in the midfield. The only dangerous chance was a giveaway inside the box from van den Bosch that nearly gave Maza a close-range shot in the eighty-second minute; however, he held the ball for a bit too long, and Schäfer ran into the space in time to knock it away for a quickly cleared corner.
The full-time whistle would go soon after, as Bayer 04 Leverkusen secured their first victory of the season by a 4-0 result. Shots in the second half finished 9-4 to the hosts, 4-0 on target with 58% possession and a pass accuracy of 89% on 233 passes - compared to 85% on 166.
Overall, shots finished 21-5 to Leverkusen, 10-0 on target. The hosts held 64% possession and managed a 10% better pass accuracy overall - 90% on 523 completions to 80% on 260 for Union.
1. FC Union Berlin will play the Friday primetime match in Matchweek 3, a must-win against FC Schalke 04 at 20.30 (CET). Schalke are 0-0-1 in their campaign after an 0-3 defeat to FC Augsburg , and still have yet to play their second match - as they will face the holders of thirteen of the last fourteen Bundesliga titles, Bayern München, in tonight's Topspiel at 18.30 (CET).
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As for Bayer 04 Leverkusen, they will make the trip to southwest Bavaria to face FC Augsburg next Saturday, with kickoff set for 15.30 (CET). Augsburg are 1-0-0 after the above-mentioned 3-0 victory against Schalke, and still have yet to play their second match - as they will face Eintracht Frankfurt tomorrow at 17.30 (CET).
