Werder Bremen 2-2 Bayer Leverkusen: Bundesliga champions twice squander lead

Bayer Leverkusen twice took the lead but conceded a 90th-minute equaliser to draw 2-2 at Werder Bremen.

Victor Boniface, playing with a bandaged hand, flicked in a Jeremie Frimpong cutback in the 30th minute to put the champions in the driving seat.

He had missed Wednesday’s Champions League 1-1 draw at Brest after suffering minor hand and foot injuries as a passenger in a car crash on Sunday, a day after he had scored the winner in Leverkusen’s victory over Eintracht Frankfurt.

Boniface, who has now scored six league goals this season, had a chance to add another on the hour but Bremen goalkeeper Michael Zetterer pulled off a stunning save.

Instead, it was Bremen who scored with Marvin Ducksch’s powerful header in the 74th to level. Their joy only lasted three minutes, though, as Felix Agu, under pressure, spectacularly miskicked for an own goal.

Bremen, however, came back again, and Romano Schmid fired in a 90th-minute equaliser to snatch a point.

Leverkusen are third on 15 points, two behind second-placed Bayern Munich, who are in action on Sunday.

200 – Lukáš Hrádecký is the first non-German player to reach 200 Bundesliga appearances for Bayer 04 Leverkusen. Continuity. pic.twitter.com/dQj9xuRkYh

— OptaFranz (@OptaFranz) October 26, 2024

Data Debrief: Ducksch comes up trumps

Ducksch accumulated the second-highest expected goals (xG) total in the game (0.65) and took the most shots in the match (seven).

That tally of shots is the most by a Bremen player in a Bundesliga match this term.

Lukas Hradecky, meanwhile, was making his 200th Bundesliga appearance for Leverkusen, becoming the first non-German player to hit that milestone for the club.

Despite Bremen’s late equaliser, they have now won just one of their last 15 competitive matches against Leverkusen.