Bayer hit the ground running and it took them barely 75 seconds to go fire themselves ahead. Swiss striker Eren Derdiyok was given far too much time to whip a cross for Stefan Reinartz at the back post; Fährmann did well initially to prevent the ball from going in, but after Barnetta's flick, it was Stefan Kießling who was on hand to put the league leaders ahead and further justify his claim to Joachim Löw for a place in the Nationalmannschaft as the World Cup in South Africa looms ever larger on the horizon.
Then, just four minutes later, before Eintracht had even had chance to realise what had happened, they found themselves two goals behind; Tranquillo Barnetta curled in a corner which was met by youngster Stefan Reinarzt to sensationally head Bayer Leverkusen 2-0 ahead after just 6 minutes.
Stunning start
Eintracht probably thought that things couldn't get much worse for them at this point, but incredibly that was to be the case for the visitors after 11 minutes. Kießling played in Derdiyok from the right, and after a great block from Maik Franz for Frankfurt, the ball dropped kindly for Toni Kroos to unbelievably put Leverkusen 3-0 ahead, with two thirds of the first half still to play.
Leverkusen could even have had a fourth after just 22 minutes, but veteran Finnish defender Sami Hyypia's header was cleared off the line by Christoph Spycher with Fährmann beaten once more.
Comfortable
Leverkusen were easing to victory, although young goalkeeper Fabian Giefer almost gifted Eintracht a goal to get them back into the game on 59 minutes. The highly-rated German scuffing the ball straight to Nikos Liberopoulos, and just about getting away with his error by giving a free kick in getting the ball back, from which nothing resulted.
Heynckes' side then put the icing on the cake with a fourth goal, this time from substitute Lars Bender. Reinarzt, who had an excellent game, picked out Bender with a superb pass, before he then pushed the ball past the oncoming Fährmann to make the score 4-0, a scoreline which definitely didn't flatten the home side.
There was to be no more punishment for Eintracht Frankfurt, Leverkusen wrapping up a devastating 4-0 victory at the BayArena. No matter if Hamburg win at Hannover tomorrow or if Werder Bremen triumph at home to Dortmund on Sunday, Heynckes side will definitely be top by at least a point on Sunday night, after this win opened up a four point gap back to the rest of the competition. Eintracht stay in 10th on 16 points, but are still only four points back from a Europa League spot, although they will have to improve to achieve that aim based on this hapless performance.
Joe Dibben
