[ad_1]
The Finnish shot-stopper played a crucial part in his side’s win, but did so with a considerable impairment early on
Bayer Leverkusen goalkeeper Lukas Hradecky revealed he lost his contact lens during his side’s 2-1 victory over reigning Bundesliga champions Bayern Munich and was forced to play a portion of the match with only partial vision.
Leon Bailey had opened the scoring for Leverkusen after just 10 minutes before Thomas Muller equalised for the home side in the 34th minute.
That goal came when Hradecky was playing with only one good eye after his contact lens had fallen out.
“I lost my contact lens in the first half and I hardly saw anything for 20 minutes before the break, so try to play against Bayern with one eye,” Hradecky told Sky Sports post-match.
With his vision restored, Hradecky would go on to make 10 saves during a match which was decided by Bailey just one minute after Muller had struck for Bayern.
The surprise result sees Leverkusen jump up to seventh, only two points shy of fourth-placed Bayern, who have now already lost three league games this season.
Leverkusen coach Peter Bosz admits his side were gifted chances on Saturday but praised his team for finding a way to hold on for all three points.
“The first 30 minutes were good, we also put pressure on them and scored the goals, and then the spaces were too big against a team like Bayern, so we were very lucky,” Bosz said.
“It was character and mentality, especially as important players like Aranguiz had to leave the field before, and Diaby was our left-back at the end – a big compliment to the team!”
German midfielder Sven Bender also conceded his side got somewhat lucky against the reigning Bundesliga champions.
“It was extremely difficult, they were very oppressive, they play very strong at the moment and we fought passionately,” Bender said.
Article continues below
“We did not have much luck this season and I think we got a bit back today – it’s the only way to win in Munich.”
Leverkusen ended the match with 10 men after Jonathan Tah was shown a red card for a challenge on Philippe Coutinho late in the game.
Robert Lewandowski would then strike the crossbar in injury-time as Leverkusen just managed to hold on for a valuable win – and Hradecky was able to laugh about his contact lens mishap.
[ad_2]
Source link