Leverkusen ease to victory over Nürnberg
Leverkusen - Bayer 04 Leverkusen bounced back from Wednesday's UEFA Champions League defeat to Manchester United FC with a comfortable 3-0 win over 1. FC Nürnberg.
Kießling strikes
Leverkusen looked to still be reeling from their embarrassing defeat at home to the English Premier League champions in the early stages against der Club. There was little incision to their normally fast-paced passing game, and they hardly tested Raphael Schäfer in the Nürnberg goal.
Indeed it was the visitors who actually came closest to opening the scoring, with Makoto Hasebe being denied by the post. Gertjan Verbeek’s men were then slightly unfortunate to see the hosts take the lead, as Heung Min Son applied a controlled finish to Gonzalo Castro’s pull-back.
Nürnberg might have felt slightly unlucky to be trailing at the break, but they were given a mountain to climb immediately after the restart as Stefan Kießling netted with a low strike after collecting Jen Hegeler’s deft touch. Daniel Ginczek led the fightback with two deflected efforts, but the wind was taken well and truly out of the Franconians' sails by Son, who collected another good pass from Castro and finished clinically.
It was a welcome return to form for Bayer after their mauling in Europe, and they remain second in the table. Nürnberg, meanwhile, continue to wait for a first league win of the campaign.
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