Wirtz works magic – and leads Bayer to a record start

Rotterdam (SID) When his fairytale debut on Europe’s biggest stage was over, Florian Wirtz couldn’t believe it at first. The young Bayer Leverkusen star looked questioningly at the bench when his substitution was announced. After 72 minutes, it was all over for the magician, who just couldn’t get enough of this historic evening.

As the first German to score a brace in the first game of the Champions League, the 21-year-old made football history in the 4-0 (4-0) dream start of the ice-cold double winners at Feyenoord Rotterdam – and silenced the notorious witches’ cauldron “De Kuip”. Wirtz was full of enthusiasm and delivered a perfect debut in the premier class with his two goals (5th/36th).

Alejandro Grimaldo (30th) and an own goal by former Schalke keeper Wellen Timonreuther (45th) equalized the Rhinelanders’ highest Champions League victory in October 2013 against Shakhtar Donetsk. In the first international match since losing the Europa League final against Atalanta Bergamo, the Werkself dominated, especially before half-time. Leverkusen’s next opponent is AC Milan (October 1st).

It was a very special party, especially for Wirtz. During Bayer’s last Champions League appearance in 2022/23, he had to sit out due to a cruciate ligament tear. Now the national player is finally making his debut – with big goals. He wanted to show, he had announced beforehand, “what I can do and see what I can do in the Champions League.”

The 21-year-old needed less than five minutes to do this. After the Dutch lost the ball, Wirtz switched quickly and put the ball into the net from the edge of the penalty area. Feyenoord, the former club of the new Liverpool coach Arne Slot, quickly looked for an answer, but Ramiz Zerrouki (9th) was offside when the equalizer was supposed to have been scored.

Coach Xabi Alonso, who had won the Champions League as a player with Liverpool FC and Real Madrid, then saw how his team, led by the strong sweeper Robert Andrich, increasingly silenced the Dutch fans. Lukas Hradecky, who was preferred to Matej Kovar in the Bayer goal, was on hand to stop the hosts from scoring a few goals.

And Leverkusen struck with ice-cold precision on the offensive. First, Grimaldo completed an attack that Victor Boniface had started with a cheeky pass. Then Wirtz was in the right place again when he converted a cross with a direct shot. For the fourth goal, Wellenreuther unfortunately headed Edmond Tapsoba’s ball into his own goal.

Wirtz opened the second period with a dangerous long-range shot (51st minute), but Bayer took a much more relaxed approach after that. After Hradecky had asked Quentin Timbers to score (55th minute), Boniface tried a quick shot from the halfway line, but was unsuccessful.

After a good 70 minutes, Alonso took Wirtz off the field. In the final phase, Leverkusen survived a few tricky situations unscathed. The Dutch team’s supposed consolation goal by Ayase Ueda was also disallowed due to an offside position (73′).