UEFA Europa League: Bayer Leverkusen trounce FC Metalist Kharkiv
Manager Jupp Heynckes led his German team, Bayer Leverkusen, to http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/FC-Metalist-Kharkiv-c39162 on February 17, 2011, in the 1st leg of the UEFA Europa League Round of 32. The tie ended in a comprehensive away win for the Bundesliga
team.
The German club qualified from Group-B along with Greek club Aris Saloniki while the Ukrainian club came through from Group-I along with the Eredivisie side http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/PSV-c40281 Eindhoven.
The Germans were tipped to be the favourites even before the start of the game as the Polecats were making a European comeback after being knocked out by Dynamo Kiyv in the 2008-09 season on away goals rule.
The visitors started the first half oozing with confidence as the home team was forced on the back foot to stop the mighty Germans from advancing towards their goal. Bayern looked to break Kharkiv’s defence on numerous occasions, but Ukrainian’s were always
able to keep the visitors at a safe distance.
The home team faced an early setback when defender http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Andriy-Berezovchuk-c5986 in the 15th minute after complaining a niggle.
The Werkselfs continued playing their attacking football and did not have to wait long for the result as the Swiss forward http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Eren-Derdiyok-c12675 opened the scoring in the 23rd minute. The home side took some risk by committing bodies forward too early in the piece
in their surge for an equaliser but http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Milan-Obradovic-c25818 got booked in the very next minute of the goal.
Metalists launched a rare attack on the Germans, but they were never allowed to have a sniff of Rene Adler’s goal. http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Manuel-Friedrich-c23401 got himself booked in the 29th minute for a stupid tackle which could have been avoided.
The Werkselfs once again started an attack, but were stopped short in their tracks a few times before the German midfielder http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Sidney-Sam-c33476 committed a foul in frustration that saw him being booked on the 45-minute mark, also bringing an end to the first half.
Leverkusen made a substitution at the very start of the second half as midfielder http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Gonzalo-Castro-c15105. The move suggested that the Germans have decided to sit back and relax as they already had the required away goal. But
the lack of experience in Markevics side was clearly evident after the second half substitute, Castro, netted in the second goal to make life difficult for the hosts.
There was some dirty play in the middle by the home side as they were pressing hard in an attempt to get a goal back. It resulted in the booking of the Brazilian, http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Arturo-Vidal-c6760 Pardo.
The Polecats continued making runs, but it was extremely difficult to break the experienced defence of the away side. With just over two minutes remaining on the clock, Kharkiv committed every one forward that left the entire midfield virtually empty. The
Germans, on the other hand, were sitting back after securing an comfortable lead of two goals.
The home side was left completely exposed at the back as the midfielder Sidney blasted two more goals in the space of less than a minute to give the visitors a 4-0 advantage over the hosts and signal their elimination.
Metalist Kharkiv will now travel to http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Germany-c2904 for the return fixture on February 24, 2011. To qualify for the last 16, the Ukrainians will have to make a Herculean effort to score a minimum of four goals on their visit.
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