Five days after his phantom goal, stefan kiebling has led bayer leverkusen to an important victory in the champions league. With a 4-0 (1-0) win over shakhtyor donezk and their second home victory, the bundesliga third-placed team has retained all its chances of reaching the eighth finals.
In front of 25,184 spectators at the bayarena on wednesday, kiebling of all people put the ball in the net with his brace (22. Minute/72.) and a strong performance the cornerstone to the victory. Captain simon rolfes (50./foulefmeter) with his third goal in the third group game and sidney sam (57.) provided for the decision.
With six points, leverkusen moved past donezk into second place in group A behind manchester united and will go into the second leg in two weeks’ time in the ukraine with a good starting position. Leverkusen also continued a series: they remain undefeated against ukrainian teams in front of a home crowd.
Kiebling’s goals proved that he had not been affected by the criticism he had received in recent days, according to bayer sports director rudi voller: "I was incredibly happy for him." The club had not dreamed of such a high victory against its fiercest rival for advancement. "We certainly took a giant step so we are still in the race to get to the next round," said voller. Rolfes praised kiebling for a "top performance": "especially after the discussions, this is certainly remarkable."
After kiebling’s header, which had landed in the net only through a hole in the net against hoffenheim, had had the whole fubball nation in an uproar since friday, leverkusen had a hard time at the beginning. In the first half, the werkself hardly created any chances for itself. But kiebling struck with the first good opportunity: the young right-back giulio donati brought a sharp cross into the penalty area, the attacker rose high and headed into the left corner – 1:0. The striker clenched his fist in jubilation and slid to his knees.
Kiebling had previously won the ball himself with a spirited effort and thus initiated the attack. The goal was certainly also a piece of satisfaction for him, after he had to cope with criticism in the past few days. The home fans, however, had buried him before kickoff with "stefan kiebling, stefan kiebling" choruses and conveyed their approval with a crude banner ("stefan kiebling kampfer identifikationsfigur und personlichkeit").
Substitute donati was one of four new players that coach sami hyypia had called into his starting eleven compared to the hoffenheim game. Emre can also replaced stefan reinartz, who had to pull out at short notice, in defensive midfield, while emir spahic started at center back. For the offense heung-min son was jerked into the starting eleven.
The lead gave the leverkuseners security, then the bundesliga team acted a bit more fluently. In the defense, the rhinelanders hardly came into danger in the first half. The ukrainians, with five brazilians starting from the beginning, were especially tight at the back and had almost no chances before the break. A freistob by jaroslaw rakizki (13.) flew past the goal, a shot from alex teixeira hit the roof of the net (45.).
After the change of sides, the bayer-elf then quickly ensured a reassuring lead. Donezk defender darijo srna knocked down kiebling in the penalty area, and rolfes placed the questionable penalty in the right corner with his left foot. The defensive midfielder had also scored at manchester united (2:4) and in the home win against real sociedad san sebastian (2:1).
Sam added another goal just seven minutes later – again, kiebling had a hand in the preparation. After a mistake by goalkeeper andrej pjatow, the striker was allowed to celebrate a second time himself, before he was seen off by the spectators with chants and ovations at his substitution (76.).
