Clinical Wolfsburg come from behind to defeat Bayer Leverkusen

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Wolfsburg made it two wins from two this season after coming from behind to cancel out Leon Bailey's opener for Bayer Leverkusen and romp to a 3-1 victory at the BayArena on Saturday.

Bayer Leverkusen 1-3 VfL Wofsburg

Goals: 1-0 Bailey (24'), 1-1 Özcan (o.g. 37'), 1-2 Weghorst (55'), 1-3 Steffen (59')

The hosts very nearly took the lead within seconds of kick-off when a well-worked move provided Julian Brandt with a chance to shoot from close range, only to be denied by a superb last-ditch Jerome Roussillon tackle. That set the tone for the rest of the half and both teams were energetic, looking to transition forward quickly. Indeed, it was one such move that led to Leverkusen eventually breaking the deadlock when Bailey drove forward down the right before cutting inside and curling a delightful shot inside the far post. The Wolves fought back, however, and equalised shortly before the interval when Yannick Gerhardt's shot from an acute angle was inadvertently helped over the line by goalkeeper Ramazan Özcan.

The match continued in the same vein after the break and although Leverkusen looked more threatening initially, it was Wolfsburg who scored again when summer signing Wout Weghorst headed in from Roussillon's pinpoint cross from the left. The Wolves extended their lead moments later when Renato Steffen latched onto Josip Brekalo's through ball to slot past Özcan from 18 yards. The home team pressed frenetically in the closing stages in an effort to claw their way back into the game, but Wolfsburg held on to take maximum points once again.

Line-ups

Leverkusen: Özcan – Weiser, Tah, Dragovic, Wendell (Aranguiz 59') – L. Bender (c), Havertz – Brandt, Volland (Paulinho 71'), Bailey – Alario (Thelin 71')
Unused subs: Hradecky, Jedvaj, Kohr, Bellarabi
Absentees: Baumgartlinger (knee), S. Bender (ankle), Hradecky (dental), Kirschbaum (thigh), Pohjanpalo (ankle), Retsos (thigh)
Coach: Heiko Herrlich

Wolfsburg: Pervan – William, Knoche, Brooks, Roussillon (Uduokhai 84')– Arnold (c), Gerhardt, Camacho – Steffen (Mehmedi 67'), Weghorst (Ginczek 81'), Brekalo
Unused subs: Menzel, Verhaegh, Malli, Rexhbecaj
Absentees: Azzaoui, Guilavogui (both knee), Jung (muscular), Klaus (abdominal), Tisserand (thigh), Casteels (personal reasons)
Coach: Bruno Labbadia

Match stats

    Bailey's goal was his first in the Bundesliga since 17 February, when he scored the opener in a 2-1 win away to Hamburg.Last season Wolfsburg failed to score more than twice away from home and never managed to win after falling behind. That all changed here. Steffen and Weghorst netted their first Bundesliga goals in this match.Leverkusen picked up just one point from their first three games of the season in 2017/18, but went on to finish fifth in the final standings.Last season it took Wolfsburg 12 games to get to two wins; now they have two from two.Pavao Pervan made his Bundesliga debut in this game, deputising for Wolfsburg No.1 Koen Casteels, who was absent due to the imminent birth of his child.

Watch: Weghorst on netting his first ever Bundesliga goal

As it happened

Click here for the Leverkusen-Wolfsburg match centre!