Ex-Brentford goalie ships four in 45 minutes on disastrous day at the office for his side

By Alessandro Schiavone at BayArena

Bundesliga Matchday 16

Bayer Leverkusen 1-4 VFB Stuttgart

Goals: Leweling 2x, Mittelstädt penalty, Undav (VFB), Grimaldo penalty (BL)

In a horror first-half at BayArena on Saturday evening, Mark Flekken and his Bayer Leverkusen side found themselves four goals to the bad with the second-half having not even started.

Nick Woltemadde's former side VFB Stuttgart ran riot in a pretty much one-sided first 45 minutes to pull level with the 2024 Bundesliga champions on fourth place in the standings.

An impressive brace by the irrepressible Jamie Leweling, a Maximilian Mittelstädt penalty and Denis Undav's poacher's finish killed off the game before long.

The fans went silent and nuclear in the stands before their much-improved team won the second period 1-0 courtesy of an Alejandro Grimaldo penalty.

But that was too little too late for the former Brentford goalie's side who could not have kicked off 2026 in worse fashion as they already trail pacesetters Bayern Munich by 15 points.

And that with the whole Rückrunde still to play.

The Germans have a high ceiling when all their players including Lucas Vasquez, Belocian, Poku, Alejo Sarco, Ezequiel Fernandez and Martin Terrier hit form. Because so far, exception made for half-a-dozen of games, they have been nothing but a frustrating watch this season.

Yet Xabi Alonso,, the man who fired the club to unprecedented highs in 2024 and was sacked by Real Madrid today, is no longer around to nurture that talent.