Chicharito stripes beauty as Bayer Leverkusen romp Werder Bremen
BERLIN -- Javier "Chicharito" Hernandez played only 30 minutes as he led Bayer Leverkusen to a 3-0 win over Wolfsburg in the Bundesliga on Friday, boosting the side's chances of Champions League football next season.
The 19-year-old Julian Brandt opened the scoring against his former club in the 27th minute, shooting inside the far post after playing a simple one-two with Hakan Calhanoglu to outfox the Wolfsburg defense.
Calhanoglu came close to making it 2-0 after the break, shooting just wide after Brandt set him up with a classy back-heel.
Wolfsburg failed to seriously trouble Bernd Leno in the Leverkusen goal and may already have been distracted by Wednesday's Champions League quarterfinal first leg against Real Madrid.
Leverkusen captain Lars Bender played an hour on his return from months out after ankle surgery and a hamstring injury. He was given a standing ovation when he came off for Chicharito in the 61st. The Mexico striker sealed the result 12 minutes later with an impressive curling strike in off the far post from around 25 meters (yards).
Chicharito then laid the ball back for Vladlen Yurchenko to complete the scoring with three minutes remaining. It was another fine strike inside the right post and the Ukrainian midfielder's first Bundesliga goal.
"It was a very positive day for us," Brandt said.
Leverkusen moved fourth ahead of the rest of the 28th round. Wolfsburg dropped seven points behind Leverkusen, which is provisionally in the last qualification slot for the Champions League
"It was much too harmless, there are no words for it," Wolfsburg sporting director Klaus Allofs said after his team's poor performance.
