Bayer Leverkusen, reigning German champion, conceded a draw (1-1) on Wednesday October 23 in Guingamp against Brest on the third day. In the end, both teams are undefeated after the first three days of the Champions League.
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Brest managed to hold off Bayer Leverkusen and can believe more than ever in their chances of qualifying. With seven points out of nine possible, just like the Germans, Brest was provisionally 3rd before the last seven matches of the day where four teams could theoretically still overtake it. Coach Eric Roy had lined up the big team, with the return ofAbdallah Simaalready scorer of three goals in the competition, and the indispensable Pierre Lees-Melou.
Xabi Alonso rotated his squad
For the Germans, Xabi Alonso had rotated almost half of his eleven, notably doing without Granit Xhaka and Robert Andrich in the middle and Martin Terrier up front. This did not prevent the reigning German champions from taking control of the match against Brest, focusing above all on not making a mistake and bringing out the balls as cleanly as possible in the face of intense pressure from their opponents.
Bayer Leverkusen opened the scoring thanks to Florian Wirtz who deceived Marco Bizot (0-1, 24th) and cooled the stadium. Led for the first time in C1 against an opponent who had until then kept a clean sheet, Brest once again found itself at a crossroads.
And as for almost two years and the arrival of Roy on his bench, Brest has risen to the challenge admirably, because he does not lack talent either.
The lightning, or rather the thunder of Brest, obviously came from Lees-Melou who, for his first match in the “real” Champions League – he had played in the play-offs with Nice – seemed like a fish in the water. On an almost harmless and deflected cross from Mahdi Camara, he positioned himself perfectly to receive the ball in a bell and to resume with a perfect volley from the right, which went into the small net of Matej Kovar (1-1, 39th).
By beating the two Austrian clubs of Sturm Graz (2-1) and RB Salzburg (4-0) during the first two days, Brest had achieved two small exploits which gave the right to dream. After Leverkusen, Brest will have a trip to Barcelona at the end of November and the reception of Real Madrid to finish the championship phase on January 29.
Other meetings of the day:
Atalanta Bergamo – Celtic Glasgow 0-0