Bayer 04 Leverkusen's Hakan Calhanoglu fluffed his lines from the penalty spot on Matchday 8 - © © gettyimages / Dennis Grombkowski
Bayer 04 Leverkusen's Hakan Calhanoglu fluffed his lines from the penalty spot on Matchday 8 - © © gettyimages / Dennis Grombkowski

Calhanoglu misses from the spot as Augsburg hold Leverkusen

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Leverkusen - Hakan Calhanoglu missed a second-half penalty as Bayer 04 Leverkusen were held to a frustrating 1-1 draw at home to FC Augsburg.

Bayer 04 Leverkusen 1-1 FC Augsburg

Goals: 1-0 Leno OG (12'), 1-1 Bellarabi (39')

Hoping to bounce back from their narrow UEFA Champions League defeat to FC Barcelona, Roger Schmidt's men began full of purpose, carving out several chances. However, it was the visitors who broke the deadlock at the BayArena, Leverkusen No.1 Bernd Leno steering team-mate Jonathan Tah's pass into his own net for Augsburg to take an unlikely lead. Undeterred by that early setback, though the home side kept up the pressure and finally saw their efforts rewarded after 39 minutes when Karim Bellarabi reacted fastest to slot in on the rebound after Javier Hernandez's long-range effort had bounced back off the right-hand post.

Leverkusen remained the more dominant side after the interval, dictating both tempo and possession against a deep-lying Augsburg side. Calhanoglu was at the heart of most of Bayer's promising action, and could have given the home side the lead after Jan-Ingwer Callsen-Bracker handled the ball inside the area 19 minutes from time, but the 21-year-old sent his penalty over the bar. Leverkusen threw bodies forward and carved out several clear-cut opportunities, but Augsburg held on to take a fortuitous point.

Man of the match

Augsburg No.1 Hitz kept out seven of Leverkusen's eight shots on his goal as Markus Weinzierl's men collected only their second away point of the season.

Talking point

Leverkusen's lack of bite in front of goal is a concern for Schmidt. Die Werkself have scored just eight goals in as many Bundesliga outings in 2015/16 - the lowest return of all last season's top four.

Match stats

    Leverkusen registered 22 shots on goal compared to Augsburg's three.Calhanoglu also missed Leverkusen's only penalty in the previous campaign.

Line-ups

Leverkusen: Leno - Donati, Tah, Papadopoulos, Wendell - Kramer, Bender - Kampl, Calhanoglu (Mehmedi 75'), Bellarabi (Brandt 78') - Hernandez (Kießling 75')

Augsburg: Hitz - Verhaegh, Callsen-Bracker, Klavan, Stafylidis - Baier (Hong 68'), Kohr - Koo, Halil Altintop, Esswein (Feulner 81') - Bobabilla (Matavz 63')