Kai Havertz set another milestone for the Bundesliga when he found the net in Leverkusen’s 3-1 Rhine derby prevail upon Cologne on Wednesday to ease his club back into the UEFA Champions League qualification positions.
Clearly, it wasn’t for Leverkusen’s getting a kick out of the chance to be taken out of the top four because of Borussia Mönchengladbach ‘s prevail upon Wolfsburg 24 hours earlier, and when Sven Bender deftly transformed into a Leon Bailey corner — Leverkusen ‘s fifth opening stage — it brought a lavishly merited lead. Timo Horn has denied Moussa Diaby after wriggling through a permeable visiting backline with Cologne, in danger of taking on more water than the rain-doused BayArena.
Diaby ‘s speed and creativity down the left have been a constant wellspring of worry for Cologne, whose stresses would have had considerably more grounded foundations when the ex-Paris Saint-Germain youth chose Havertz at the edge of the container. A terrible shot wide was slanted by Germany international, however not long after it was certain footed to coordinate a Bailey cutback home and the Leverkusen twofold advantage.
Toothless in the 45-minute opener the Billy Goats discovered some nibble to get back into the game after the break. An unmarked Jhon Cordoba had gone wide, not long before Sebastiaan Bornauw got up to gesture in a corner to give Cologne trust.
It has been in vain, be that as it may, as Leverkusen saw the game out in relative solace. Havertz may have made Peter Bosz’s men’s end stages significantly progressively comfortable yet he sent a short proximity overhead kick over the bar when Wendell created the same misleading result with an all-around placed free-kick.
Havertz then exchanged smart passes with Diaby, who charged forward and shot under Horn from a nearby angle to put Leverkusen ‘s European fate in their own hands.
