Late Can goal seals victory for Leverkusen
Leverkusen - Simon Rolfes and Emre Can helped Bayer 04 Leverkusen to hard-earned 2-1 victory over FC Augsburg at the BayArena.
Kießling and Son going close
Following on from their impressive outing in Wednesday's 4-0 victory against FC Shakhtar Donetsk in the UEFA Champions League, Leverkusen began confidently, looking the more threatening side in the first half. Heung Min Son's long-range effort almost gave Sami Hyypiä's men the lead after quarter of an hour, but the home side were lucky not to get caught cold a little later when his Korean compatriot Jeong-Ho Hong crashed a volley against the crossbar.
Andre Hahn did better shortly after though, skilfully volleying Tobias Werner's long ball into the far left corner for his second goal of the season. Bayer largely failed to make proper use of their dominance, lacking creativity in the final third, forcing them to rely on a set-piece situation to grab an equaliser, as Simon Rolfes got a foot on Sebastian Boenisch's header to send the teams in level at the break.
Leverkusen increased the pressure after the restart, forcing Augsburg on the back foot for most of the second half. Die Werkself should have taken the lead when last season's top goalscorer Stefan Kießling failed to beat Alexander Manninger in a one-on-one situation, while Son squandered the chance to steer the ball into an empty net on the rebound.
The hosts' efforts finally produced a winning goal seven minutes from time, however, as Can headed home Robbie Kruse's pin-point cross from the right for his first ever Bundesliga goal, keeping third-placed Leverkusen within touching distance of table-toppers FC Bayern München.
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