Florian Wirtz left the big stage to his teammates even after his successful comeback from the starting eleven. With the hood of his thick jacket pulled down over his forehead, the national soccer player sneaked almost incognito to celebrate with the Bayer Leverkusen fans after the 2-0 (1-0) win over VfL Bochum.
On the field, the 19-year-old acted rather inconspicuously from the start after 318 days - apart from his highlight when preparing the second goal.
Also thanks to Wirtz, last year's third-placed driver celebrated his fifth win in a row and worked his way up to eighth place after a disastrous start to the season. The European Cup ranks are back in sight faster than expected. "Now I prefer to look at the table than before. We have five wins in a row, we made up for the disaster in the first half of the season," said Leverkusen's Robert Andrich on Sky.
Edmond Tapsoba with a penalty kick (8th minute) and Adam Hlozek on a cross from Wirtz (52nd) scored the goals for Leverkusen. A series of three wins ended for Bochum. The Westphalians last celebrated four successes in a row in 1980. VfL slipped back to the relegation place at the end of the first half of the season. "The chances we had, we could have scored at least one goal. That was the difference today," said Anthony Losilla.
Lead by penalty hit
It was quickly noticed by both teams that after a frustrating start they had recently had successful streaks. It quickly became clear who was to get on the road to victory. Bayer's winger Moussa Diaby was caught on the foot at the end of a solo by Keven Schlotterbeck. Although Leverkusen played the situation to the end and Hlozek failed due to VfL keeper Manuel Riemann, referee Timo Gerach from Landau in der Pfalz gave a penalty on his first division debut after video evidence. The 36-year-old referee is not actually on the 24-name list of Bundesliga referees, but was given a chance as part of a model by referee boss Lutz-Michael Fröhlich. It was the eleventh penalty against Bochum this season.
Wirtz didn't take the penalty just yet, but let Tapsoba have the ball. The defender from Burkina Faso, previously a solid scorer in Portugal with nine goals in nine attempts in all competitions for Vitória Guimarães, smashed his first Bundesliga penalty untenably under the bar. The courageous and self-confident Bochum team almost scored the equalizer, but Takuma Asano, who had been a Japan terror to Germany since the 2-1 victory at the World Cup in Qatar, initially failed to hit Bayer keeper Lukas Hradecky, and Piero Hincapié hit the ball in front of the line away. In the 13th minute, Leverkusen were already celebrating Diaby's supposed 2-0 lead, but he was offside.
Fans rise when Wirtz is replaced
And Wirtz? The 19-year-old, who tore his cruciate ligament in March and made his first 15-minute appearance on Sunday in a 3-2 win in Mönchengladbach, had a lot of freedom in central midfield. Initially, however, it was not involved again as before, and logically it also lacked the otherwise impressive self-image in its actions. Only one shot on goal, one assist and 21 ball contacts were in the statistics for him until the break.
But he was diligent, no other Leverkusen ran more. And slowly found its way into the game. Two minutes after the break he was still too timid with a chance to score, then he set up Hlozek's goal with a sharp cross. When he was substituted after 71 minutes and 45 touches, the spectators rose and celebrated him.
