Leverkusen coast through at FCK's expense
Wednesday, August 27, 2014
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Bayer 04 Leverkusen 4-0 FC København (agg: 7-2)
Stefan Kiessling continued his prolific early-season form with two goals as the Bundesliga outfit coasted into the group stage.
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• Son Heung-Min breaks the deadlock inside two minutes
• The lead is soon doubled through Hakan Çalhanoğlu's deflected free-kick
• A quick break results in a penalty which Stefan Kiessling converts
• Kiessling adds his second to complete the scoring in the second half
• Bayer 04 Leverkusen enter group stage draw, FC København into UEFA Europa League
Leverkusen qualified for the UEFA Champions League group stage for a ninth time as their 4-0 play-off second-leg victory against København took them through 7-2 on aggregate.
Early strikes from Son and Hakan set the tone for a one-sided affair at the BayArena, with Kiessling adding goals in either half to ensure the Werkself sailed into Thursday's draw with a 100% competitive record this term.
Roger Schmidt's team had scored the fastest goal in Bundesliga history in their 2-0 weekend win at Borussia Dortmund and were similarly quick out of the blocks against their Danish visitors, Son netting the opener with two minutes on the clock.
The strike was another product of Leverkusen's new intense pressing style under Schmidt, with Son charging down defender Mathias Jørgensen, forcing the error and finishing confidently into the far corner after Kiessling had returned him the loose ball.
København had barely had an opportunity to regroup by the time Hakan extended Bayer's advantage, his free-kick taking a deflection off Danny Amankwaa to leave Stephan Andersen with no chance.
The hosts' third came from another dead ball as Kiessling slotted in from the spot. It was the result of Leverkusen's energetic approach, Tin Jedvaj releasing Karim Bellarabi down the right before sprinting the entire length of the field to earn the spot kick from Amankwaa's push.
Son almost repeated his first-half feat within two minutes of the restart, but the wrong-footed Andersen clawed the South Korean international's deflected effort away. Soon afterwards Youssef Toutouh struck the bar at the other end, with Leverkusen's high line threatening to leave them exposed, but the home fans were soon cheering again when Kiessling latched onto a superb pass from Gonzalo Castro to round off the scoring midway through the second half.