Kiessling on song as Leverkusen sail past Shakhtar
Wednesday, October 23, 2013
Article summary
Bayer 04 Leverkusen 4-0 FC Shakhtar Donetsk
Stefan Kiessling struck twice as Sami Hyypiä's men saw off the Ukrainian champions to move into the top two at Group A's halfway stage.
Article top media content
Article body
Bayer 04 Leverkusen impressively saw off FC Shakhtar Donetsk to climb into second spot in UEFA Champions League Group A at the section's halfway point.
Stefan Kiessling broke the deadlock with the game's first clear chance, planting a header beyond Andriy Pyatov's grasp on 22 minutes, before Sami Hyypiä's men turned the screw after the restart. A penalty from captain Simon Rolfes was followed by Sidney Sam's composed left-foot finish before Kiessling's second of the evening compounded the agony for Shakhtar, who drop to third place after starting the day at the head of the pack.
The match quickly fell into the expected pattern – the home side pushing and probing, the Pitmen sitting back and waiting for their moment to pounce. It was the Bundesliga team's tactics that first paid dividends. Kiessling launched the move himself with a bustling run from his own half, and when the ball was played out to Giulio Donati the full-back curled in a cross that the Leverkusen No11 dispatched with a towering header.
Despite falling behind Shakhtar continued to play the waiting game, with Bernd Leno in the home goal seeing very little of the ball. The goalscorer nearly doubled the lead minutes before the interval but his header from a Sebastian Boenisch cross skimmed just over the bar. Then, out of nothing, Mircea Lucescu's charges almost brought it level – Douglas Costa fed Alex Teixeira into the right of the area but the Brazilian sent his wicked effort into the side netting.
The second half began in dramatic fashion. Shakhtar captain Darijo Srna bundled over the ever-dangerous Kiessling as a cross came into the box, and opposing skipper Rolfes made no mistake from the spot to score for the third UEFA Champions League match in succession. A matter of minutes later it was 3-0, Sam calmly slotting home Son Heung-Min's perfectly timed pass.
The introduction of Bernard gave the visitors more attacking threat, and he narrowly failed to poke Luiz Adriano's low centre into the net on 67 minutes. Even so, it was that man Kiessling who had the final say, tapping in after Pyatov spilled an Emre Can cross to complete a miserable night for Shakhtar.
