The situation in Bayer 04 Leverkusen’s defensive midfield is becoming increasingly difficult: as the club announced on Monday afternoon, Ezequiel Fernandez will be out for an extended period.
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Bayer 04 Leverkusen’s domestic momentum remains undeniable. The 2-0 victory over SC Freiburg on Sunday afternoon delivered a fourth straight Bundesliga win and restored composure after the heavy 2-7 reverse to defending European champions Paris Saint-Germain in midweek.
Leverkusen controlled the rhythm, pressed with coordination, and converted their best phases into goals at key moments, a reminder that this squad has learned to compartmentalize setbacks and keep the league campaign on track.
The good mood was dented less than twenty four hours later. On Monday afternoon the club confirmed that Ezequiel Fernandez suffered a ligament injury in his left knee, with the exact structures not disclosed. The Argentine midfielder exited the Freiburg match shortly after Leverkusen’s second goal, having twisted the joint during an awkward movement a little over the hour mark. Scans and consultations followed quickly, and the medical staff opted for a conservative pathway rather than surgical intervention. The plan has already moved into action at the training and rehab center, with an emphasis on reducing swelling and restoring range of motion before building strength and stability. The initial timetable inside the club points to an absence of seven to eight weeks for the €30 million summer signing from Saudi Arabia.
For head coach Kasper Hjulmand, the timing compounds a problem area. The defensive midfield has already been thinned by the long term absence of Exequiel Palacios, who has been sidelined since mid September with a muscle tendon injury in the adductors. Losing Fernandez removes another profile that had been central to Hjulmand’s balance between aggression and control. Fernandez is an organiser without fuss. He closes passing lanes, shuttles laterally to protect the half spaces, and links the first and second phase of build up with clean, flat passes that invite progression. His presence allowed the more attack minded eights to push higher, confident that coverage existed behind them.
Without him, Leverkusen will need to rewire the midfield triangle on the fly. One option is a single pivot shielded by two energetic interiors who share the defensive workload and take turns dropping alongside the center backs. Another is a double pivot to stabilize circulation, with full backs asked to invert situationally to create an extra central number during build up. Personnel wise, the staff can look to a mix of experience and youth. A veteran option brings positioning discipline and game management. A younger internal solution adds legs and pressing energy but may introduce volatility without the ball. There is also the possibility of temporarily repurposing a ball playing center back into a screening role, especially in matches where Leverkusen expects territorial dominance and needs line breaking distribution from deep.
Tactically, several adjustments are likely in the short term. First, rest defense after attacking actions will be under the microscope. Fernandez excelled at killing counters at source with intelligent fouls and timely interceptions. To compensate, the wingers may be asked to narrow off the ball to shorten distances in transition, while one full back holds a more conservative starting position to provide an immediate counter press anchor. Second, set piece coverage could change. Fernandez often occupied the zone at the top of the box to attack second balls. Reassigning that task will be important against opponents who crowd the keeper and look for recycled shots. Third, ball progression might lean a little more to the outside channels through overlapping full backs and third man combinations, while the team regains central fluency.
From a scheduling perspective, the next two months present a mixed picture. League play demands consistency, and the Champions League group stage punishes lapses in concentration. The medical projection places Fernandez’s earliest return around the heart of the winter run, although that will depend on criteria based milestones such as pain free change of direction, single leg strength symmetry, and neuromuscular control in deceleration. The club’s approach indicates a desire to avoid setbacks. Conservative rehab is often chosen for partial ligament issues where stability can be restored through targeted strengthening of the quadriceps, hamstrings, and hip complex, plus progressive proprioceptive work. The final phase typically includes pitch based reconditioning, controlled small sided play, and gradually reintroduced contact. Only then does a player rejoin full training with load management.
Individually, this pause interrupts what had been a steady bedding in period for Fernandez, who joined on September 1 and has made eight competitive appearances so far, five in the Bundesliga and three in the Champions League. He is still searching for his first direct goal contribution, and his Bundesliga debut against Eintracht Frankfurt ended in a red card, a reminder that adaptation includes learning refereeing thresholds and tempo management in Germany’s top flight. Even so, his profile fits what Hjulmand wants from the role: fast decisions, reliable angles of support, and a knack for making the game simpler for teammates.
The broader squad will now be asked to distribute responsibility. The front line has provided goals at a healthy clip, and the center backs have defended the box with authority, yet the true test will be the silent parts of the game that Fernandez usually handled. Who anticipates the second ball when Leverkusen press high and the clearance drops between the lines. Who directs traffic when possession flips and the opponent tries to play into the striker’s feet. Who slows the match when tempo threatens to spiral. These are the intangibles that often separate a good run from a sustained title defense.
There may also be implications for workload management. With two key midfielders out, rotation windows shrink. Expect Hjulmand to lean on early substitutions when scorelines allow and to stagger minutes across roles that share physical demands. Training loads could be tapered between matches to preserve freshness while academy players are gradually exposed to first team patterns and responsibilities. If those internal levers prove insufficient, January will inevitably invite questions about short term cover. For now, the messaging from Leverkusen emphasizes trust in the group, patience with the rehab timeline, and belief that the playing model can absorb shocks without losing identity.
The win over Freiburg offered that blueprint. Compact distances without the ball, calmness in first passes after recoveries, and a collective willingness to make the extra run defined a professional performance. Reproducing those habits consistently will be the antidote to the double blow in defensive midfield. Should Leverkusen maintain their points collection during this stretch, the eventual returns of Palacios and Fernandez could arrive as a powerful injection for the second half of the campaign.
