Lech Poznań and Bayer Leverkusen met at Enea Stadion in the UEFA Europa League league phase, and the shape of the match explained the scoreline far better than the bare numbers do. Bayer Leverkusen turned the tie around and left Lech Poznań to chase the game for the best part of the second half. The turning point came at the 29 minute mark, when Patrik Schick converted the penalty, and everything that followed was played in that new landscape. Bayer Leverkusen won 4-0 and carried the points home. 40116 supporters filled Enea Stadion, and the noise never really left the players alone. Neither side arrived in the best form: the last five results read W L L W W for Lech Poznań and W D W W W for Bayer Leverkusen, and both sets of players knew what a slip would cost.
Match facts
- Date: 15.10.2026
- Kick-off: 16:45 UTC
- Venue: Enea Stadion, Poznań, Poland (43269)
- Attendance: 40116
- Referee: Miloš Milanović (Serbia)
- Competition: UEFA Europa League 2026/2027 – Matchday 2
- Starting line-ups: Lech Poznań (4-2-3-1, Coach: Niels Frederiksen) / Bayer Leverkusen (4-2-3-1, Coach: Carles Martínez)
- Scorers: Patrik Schick 29′ (Bayer Leverkusen); Malik Tillman 32′ (Bayer Leverkusen); Patrik Schick 41′ (Bayer Leverkusen); Ibrahim Maza 89′ (Bayer Leverkusen)
Lech Poznań lined up with Mateusz Lis, Joel Pereira, Mateusz Skrzypczak, Wojciech Mońka, Michał Gurgul, Gustav Berggren, Antoni Kozubal, Patrik Wålemark, Mikael Ishak, Leo Bengtsson, Luis Palma in a 4-2-3-1, while Bayer Leverkusen answered with Mark Flekken, Lucas Vázquez, Loic Badé, Edmond Tapsoba, Miguel Gutiérrez, Equi Fernández, Aleix García, Nathan Tella, Malik Tillman, Ibrahim Maza, Martin Terrier in a 4-2-3-1. Niels Frederiksen and Carles Martínez led their respective sides from the touchline, and both had a plan for the first hour that they wanted to keep intact.
Goals and key moments
Goal details, minutes and scorers are the part of the record that separate one evening from another. At the 29 minute mark, Patrik Schick converted the penalty, and there was nothing anyone could do about 0-1. It was a chance worth 0.79 expected goals, which is exactly why it was worth taking. That strike changed the temperature of the evening: from that point Bayer Leverkusen could play for the counter while Lech Poznań had to take risks in the spaces that had opened up. 32′: Malik Tillman struck it with quality, and the arena had barely settled before it was 0-2. The chance itself carried 0.99 expected goals of weight, and the goalkeeper had no answer to it. The opening goal of the night arrived at the 41 minute mark, when Patrik Schick converted the penalty for 0-3. The goalkeeper would say afterwards that it was worth 0.79, and that is the harshest measure of all. Ibrahim Maza scored cleanly at the 89 minute mark, Afonso Moreira supplying the pass, and the scoreboard read 0-4. Put simply, the chance was worth 0.23 expected goals, and the finish was better than the situation deserved. Not every opening was taken, though, and the chances that were missed told their own story. Taken together, the goals gave the evening a shape that the scoreline on its own never explained.
The tactical picture
Lech Poznań started in 4-2-3-1 under Niels Frederiksen, while Bayer Leverkusen answered with 4-2-3-1 under Carles Martínez, and those two shapes decided most of what happened on the field. The midfield was the part of the pitch both sides wanted, and the numbers show who managed to take it. Neither manager was willing to hand the central ground over for free, and the shape of the game followed that refusal. Bayer Leverkusen’s 4-2-3-1 was the sharper of the two systems, and Lech Poznań’s 4-2-3-1 spent longer than they should have without the ball. Bayer Leverkusen pressed high and won the second ball, which left Lech Poznań unable to build from the back and forced them into hopeful passes. The width of the pitch worked against Lech Poznań, who kept trying to attack down the same flank and were closed down every time. Transitions were the story: Bayer Leverkusen moved the ball forward at speed, Lech Poznań could not. The tactical conversation between the two benches was as much a part of the evening as the movement of the ball itself.
Statistical comparison
The statistical picture is as revealing as the scoreline itself. The numbers that decide matches rarely tell the whole story, but they narrow the argument down to a very small area. Lech Poznań attempted 10 shots to Bayer Leverkusen’s 22, with 3 on target against 10. Possession finished at 39 per cent for Lech Poznań against 61 per cent for Bayer Leverkusen, and it is worth noting which side actually used it. Expected goals told the sharper story: 0.50 for Lech Poznań, 5.16 for Bayer Leverkusen. Lech Poznań won 4 corners to Bayer Leverkusen’s 5, and that is where most of the set-piece danger came from. Lech Poznań completed 295 of 370 passes against 534 of 584 for Bayer Leverkusen, a difference that shows how differently the two sides circulated the ball. Fouls were committed 5 times by Lech Poznań and 16 by Bayer Leverkusen, with 0 and 0 red cards in the official count. The goalkeepers made 7 and 3 saves respectively, and on a night like this that work decides how the result is remembered. The duels went 36 to 40, which is usually the cleanest single indicator of who was prepared to spend effort on the ball. Tackles were completed 13 times by Lech Poznań and 15 by Bayer Leverkusen, and the duels that followed tell the same story as the rest of the evening. Lech Poznań managed 3 shots from inside the penalty area compared with 18 for Bayer Leverkusen, which is the clearest single indicator of where the game was actually played.
Discipline and substitutions
Discipline and substitutions shaped the second half more than the scoreline suggests. Lech Poznań collected 1 yellow cards and Bayer Leverkusen 2, with Mateusz Skrzypczak (40′), Robert Andrich (68′), Moussa Diaby (80′) among the bookings. The caution count of 3 in total meant the referee had to manage a game that was becoming increasingly physical around the halfway line. Both coaches used their changes: 5 by Lech Poznań and 5 by Bayer Leverkusen, with the last substitution of the evening coming at the 76 minute mark. The emotional temperature of the evening rose and fell with the challenges and with the decisions taken by both benches. Miloš Milanović took charge of the match and had a relatively straightforward evening by the standards of the competition.
Player of the match and the standout performers
Individual performances separated the two teams across a full ninety minutes. Patrik Schick of Bayer Leverkusen was the player of the match with a rating of 9.0, and every touch that mattered carried his name on it. For Lech Poznań, the best individual rating belonged to Mateusz Lis (7.48). For Bayer Leverkusen, the best individual rating belonged to Patrik Schick (9.03). The gap between the best performances on each side was the reason the result never really looked as comfortable as it was. The goalkeeping was worth a mention too: Mateusz Lis made 7 saves for Lech Poznań, and Mark Flekken made 3 for Bayer Leverkusen. Across the two squads the highest individual ratings read Mateusz Lis (7.48), Patrik Wålemark (6.84), Patrik Schick (9.03), Ibrahim Maza (8.71).
What the result means for the league phase
Lech Poznań on 0 points from 2 matches, in 36th place with a goal difference of -8 and Bayer Leverkusen on 6 points from 2 matches, in 2nd place with a goal difference of +6. Lech Poznań arrived with W L L W W in their last five and Bayer Leverkusen with W D W W W, so the result fits the run both of them have been on. For Bayer Leverkusen this is the result the league phase was built for, and it leaves them in a much healthier position; Lech Poznań will need to respond quickly. What the numbers cannot show is how hard the result was worked for, and how differently the two sides will remember it. The next round of the league phase will tell more: whoever adjusts first in the coming days will be the one who controls the group.