Mayra Madrigal
One goal was enough for Toluca to defeat the team that finished third in the Bundesliga this season.
On February 12, the Red Devils turned 105 years old and took advantage of this match against Bayer Leverkusen to celebrate with their fans, after having a poor performance in the Clausura 2022 of Liga MX .
The German side was also celebrating, as Bayer Pharmaceuticals celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2022 and chose as its competitor the team from the city where its manufacturing factory is located.
After finishing their separate campaigns, both teams arrived with the hope of winning this friendly match.
Toluca faced the stars of Bayer Leverkusen
The team from the inventors of Aspirin arrived in Mexico on Sunday, and it was accompanied by its key players: Lukas Hradecky, Jonathan Tah, Piero Hincapié, Kerem Demirbay, Exequiel Palacios, Charles Aránguiz, Moussa Diaby, Paulinho, Patrik Schick, and Lucas Alario, as expected.
They began their preparation for Tuesday’s game on Monday, but it appears that they had little time to do so: in this way, they were unable to acclimate to the elevation above sea level, which was reflected in their performance.
Toluca looked much better on the pitch and at minute 44, thanks to a goal from Argentine Alexis Canelo, managed to get ahead on the scoreboard.
Canelo took the ball in the area, took off an opponent and took a shot towards the goal, scoring the only goal of the match .
With the scoreboard against them, the German team did not relax; instead, they gained possession of the ball and attempted everything they could in the second half to equalize. However, the attempts were not enough and thus, Toluca won by the minimum score.
With this victory, Toluca returned to the path of victory, after not having won in the last six games, where they recorded three losses and three draws.
After finishing 15th in the regular phase of Clausura 2022, the team coached by Ignacio Ambriz is in the process of revamping, so this triumph suits them well, and they expect more of these victories in the near future.
