Bayer Leverkusen loses an important Bundesliga game against Mainz 05 because some can't take penalties, but others can. Football isn't that easy, but Leverkusen's penalty problem costs points. And is recurring.
Finn Dahmen was looking forward to it. The Mainz 05 goalkeeper laughed at Edmond Tapsoba in the 21st minute of his club's Bundesliga duel at Bayer Leverkusen. The defender took a penalty when the score was 0-0. A stressful situation for both of you. But Dahmen laughed. Because the 21-year-old probably knew what would happen now - that has long been statistically evident -: he would save the penalty from Leverkusen. And he held it. Because Leverkusen simply cannot take penalties. Tapsoba's miss from the point was seventh in the last eight attempts across all competitions. An almost absurd record at this level.
They could have clarified how to concede penalties on Sunday evening through official channels: FSV Mainz is the Bundesliga's penalty king. 36 Mainz penalties ended up in the net in a row in the Bundesliga, no team produced a longer series. After Adam Szalai failed against 1. FC Nürnberg in April 2013, it was not until August 20, 2022 that another professional from Mainz failed from the spot: Augsburg Rafal Gikiewicz saved against Aaron Martin - who later prepared the winning goal . After Jonathan Burkhardt failed again against FC Bayern in October, Mainz found their way back to their old precision: Marcus Ingvartsen scored three out of three attempts - including the 3-2 win against Bayer Leverkusen on Sunday.
The other way around, Leverkusen's penalties don't work either: all four penalties conceded by the Werkself in the Bundesliga were possible. In October, Bayer Leverkusen had a particularly remarkable intermediate sprint in the race for the most disastrous penalty record of a professional club: In three consecutive competitive games, the team caused five (!) penalties within ten days: two each in the Champions League against FC Porto and in the Bundesliga against Eintracht Frankfurt, one against VfL Wolfsburg - and everyone was in it. Moussa Diaby missed the only goal of his own in these games against VfL Wolfsburg. Tapsoba only stopped the series of missed Bundesliga penalties in January: Leverkusen's shooters had missed four in a row, the fifth then sat. The sad record for the longest series of missed penalties was already in sight: Borussia Dortmund did not score any of seven penalties in the early days of the Bundesliga between November 1963 and January 1965.
Meanwhile, penalty phobia is not new in Leverkusen. It's a recurring phenomenon. In the 2016/2017 season, Hakan Calhanoglu, Charles Aranguiz, Chicharito, Ömer Toprak and Wendell missed six out of ten penalties across all competitions. In December in the Champions League against AS Monaco, Wendell only hit the crossbar from eleven yards, but the ball bounced off the goalkeeper's back at the time. UEFA rated the action as an own goal. The former Bayer boss Michael Schade commented smugly: "First of all you have to force the opponent to score an own goal with a penalty. We are back on the right track to converting a penalty." They took it easy these days, because Wendell's missed shot had no consequences: Bayer Leverkusen beat AS Monaco 3-0, they had already reached the round of 16 of the Champions League beforehand. "We all laughed on the bench," said former Bayer professional Julian Brandt, who now plays for Borussia Dortmund.
Nobody at Bayer Leverkusen feels like laughing these days, because they are miles away from qualifying for the Champions League again in the 2022/23 season. Diaby's missed shots against Wolfsburg and now Tapsoba cost valuable points. "Of course we're not happy. We wanted to win after the defeat on Thursday. Our level of defense was too weak," said coach Xabi Alonso, also looking at the 2-3 in the Europa League against AS Monaco. "We have to improve. We have to focus better, that's our goal for the future."
Due to the defeat against Mainz 05, the hard-fought seventh place, which at least theoretically still entitles you to qualify for an international competition, is three points away. The penalty specialists from Mainz 05 overtook the Werkself with the win in Leverkusen. And with Finn Dahmen, someone else laughed in Leverkusen.
