The dress rehearsal was a success with the usual last-minute quality – but Bayer Leverkusen has plenty of room for improvement before the summit meeting with FC Bayern. The double winners beat VfL Wolfsburg 4:3 (2:3) on their return to Bundesliga life three days after the Champions League gala in Rotterdam, but travelled to Munich with major defensive concerns after a questionable defensive performance. “A wake-up call,” said an angry captain Granit Xhaka after the game.

In an open exchange of blows, Bayer defender Nordi Mukiele initially scored an own goal (5th). Florian Wirtz (14th) and Jonathan Tah (32nd) put the Werkself in the lead, but Sebastiaan Bornauw (37th) and Mattias Svanberg (45th+1) turned the game around before the break. After the recent home defeat against Leipzig, Leverkusen were able to celebrate this time thanks to Piero Hincapie (48th) and Victor Boniface (90th+3). In a wild final phase, Wolfsburg’s Yannick Gerhardt (88th) had previously seen the red card.

Despite the late winning goal, leader Xhaka did not really want to celebrate. “We conceded three goals at home against Leipzig, and three again today. We then scored four. But that doesn’t happen every weekend,” complained the Swiss on the DAZN microphone: “We concede such easy goals. That shouldn’t happen at this level.” Xhaka put his finger even deeper in the wound: “A top team doesn’t concede three goals in 45 minutes. We are not compact enough. For me that was a wake-up call for the whole team.”

Xabi Alonso relies on rotation

Bayer coach Xabi Alonso made five substitutions and changed his starting eleven compared to the 4-0 win at Feyenoord. Wirtz, who played brilliantly in his Champions League debut in Rotterdam, was not given a break. The young star was supposed to warm up for the party on Saturday (6.30 p.m./Sky) at Bayern.

But the focus was initially on a teammate: Mukiele, who came from Paris in the summer, unfortunately deflected a cross into his own goal on his debut in the starting eleven. After a few defensive wobbles at the beginning, the Werkself got their act together – and improved from minute to minute, thanks in part to Wirtz. The equalizer came when the national player scored from 16 meters, underlining his top form.

Tah also among the goalscorers

In the first home game after the end of the super series of 35 league games without defeat, Bayer conceded very little and created chance after chance. However, Schick narrowly missed the lead three times (20th, 26th, 30th), and Wirtz also failed to crown a great solo effort (31st).

Tah did better shortly afterwards with a header from a corner, but the joy did not last long. Bayer’s defense, which has not yet appeared to be in top form this season, conceded the next goal. Bornauw won the header against Mukiele after a set piece. Svanberg also scored from distance, and goalkeeper Lukas Hradecky did not look good.

Mukiele out at halftime

Alonso relieved Mukiele at half-time and brought on Hincapie to stabilize the defense – and proved to have a lucky hand. The new man managed to equalize quickly with a header from a free position. Bayer were as dominant as ever in the second half, but no big chances arose at first.

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The opportunity for the next goal arose on the other side when Salih Özcan tried a long-range lob after a mistake by Hradecky (74th minute). Bayer striker Bonifatius (77th minute) failed to score after being substituted. But then he scored. (sid/jhs)