Regardless if you are a Königsblauen fan or not, Bayer Leverkusen's performance was hands-down impressive as they attacked when necessary and controlled the match with a defensive gem, including the final twenty-three minutes when they played a man down.It could have been a lot different for Schalke as they squandered two opportunities early including an easy go-ahead goal when Kevin Kurányi missed over the bar from a few meters fifteen minutes after the start. Once again, lost scoring chances come back to haunt you and following a turnover in Schalke end, Renato Augusto crossed into the box where Stefan Kießling volleyed the ball in from roughly five meters. That seemed to pick-up the home crowd and Werkself fed off, limiting Schalke's attacks through the balance of the half. Four minutes before the break Patrick Helmes scooped up the chance when Augusto's shot rebounded to him and the German international quickly stroked it in.
The Leverkusen were playing a perfect match at that time and while it might not make the statistics, any effort towards René Adler was from a poor angle and never had a chance. Die Königsblauen were the beneficiaries of a break when Gonzalo Castro was shown his second yellow card and finally with four minutes remaining Kevin Kurányi headed-in a well placed Christian Pander free-kick. With the 2-1 score Schalke's efforts to come out with a point were sub-par and as manager Fred Rutten said after the match;
"They deserved to lose."
"You just can't afford to waste chances the way we did. And the two goals we conceded really annoyed me."
It is a bitter lesson for Schalke as they were clearly the better club the first twenty-five minutes and should have had the lead but as they came up empty on the attacking side, each goal came on poor errors and should have never resulted in a goal.
