Darmstadt won't stop us either

As the saying goes: a commanding work victory! Even Darmstadt, who are bottom of the table, don't stop us and are no stumbling block for us. After initial problems with the courageous home side, the Werkself got into the game better and better as the match progressed. Nathan Tella ultimately proved to be the match-winner with his two goals in the 33rd and 52nd minutes. Winter newcomer Borja Iglesias made his debut for Bayer 04.

All in all, Leverkusen completed their away assignment at the Böllenfalltor with aplomb. Against an initially very defensive Darmstadt, who were by no means without a chance, Bayer combined to take the lead at the break, quickly added to it after the restart and remained untouchable thereafter.

The focus is now clearly on the next home game next Tuesday, when we host VfB Stuttgart in the cup quarter-finals. Stuttgart recently made a splash again with a commanding home win against Leipzig and today with a three-pointer in Freiburg, after a rather slow start in January. But the fact is that we are the favorites: We are playing at home and are unbeaten in all competitions this season, and we want to keep it that way. That's why we're clearly focusing on the game against Stuttgart and only then thinking about Bayern, who we host next Saturday.