Wirtz Shines as Leverkusen Dominates Qarabag in Europa League

Florian Wirtz was the catalyst for Bayer Leverkusen in their commanding 5-1 victory over Qarabag in the Europa League on Thursday.

With this win, Leverkusen is now one victory away from securing a spot in the knockout stages.

In the fourth minute, German midfielder Wirtz opened the scoring with a precise low drive. He continued to showcase his playmaking abilities by setting up Alejandro Grimaldo in the 29th minute, Victor Boniface in the 35th minute, and Grimaldo once more in the 54th minute.

Edmond Tapsoba added the fifth goal just three minutes later, and Grimaldo narrowly missed a hat-trick when his late free-kick struck the crossbar.

Qarabag briefly leveled the score at 1-1 through Tural Bayramov’s penalty, which was the result of a mistake by Granit Xhaka. However, the visitors were thoroughly outplayed by the Bundesliga leaders.

The match also marked the return of Leverkusen’s Czech striker Patrik Schick, who had been sidelined for several months, as a substitute.

Leverkusen now dominates Group H with a perfect nine points, ahead of Qarabag with six points and Norway’s Molde with three points. Molde earned their victory by defeating the Swedish team H?cken 5-1.

If Leverkusen can secure another win against Qarabag in their upcoming fixture in Azerbaijan in two weeks, they will secure a place in the knockout round with two games to spare.

Additionally, they will become group winners on the same day, bypassing the playoff tie and advancing directly to the last 16, provided Molde doesn’t win against H?cken.