Trailing for 55 minutes, Bayer Leverkusen snatched victory in three minutes at the very end of the match on Saturday on their lawn against Hoffenheim 2-1, a result which brings them a little closer to a first German championship title. Seven days before the end of the season, Bayer Leverkusen has 73 points, provisionally 13 more than Bayern Munich, who host Borussia Dortmund in the early evening (6:30 p.m.), for the Klassiker of German football. A lead which allows them to be assured of competing in the next Champions League. Leverkusen thus continues its series of 39 matches without defeat in all competitions this season (34 victories and 5 draws).
Hoffenheim opened the scoring through Maximilian Beier in the 33rd minute, but then suffered completely from Bayer’s domination in front of their goal throughout the match. Hoffenheim goalkeeper Oliver Baumann long repelled the attempts of Xabi Alonso’s men.
It was finally Robert Andrich who equalized in the 88th minute, before Patrik Schick delivered the 30,000 spectators at the BayArena and his coach in the second minute of added time.
This is the fourth time during the return phase of the Bundesliga that the Werkself (the “factory eleven”, nickname of the club team founded in 1904 by the chemist Bayer) has won a match in the last minutes, after the successes in Augsburg (1-0), Leipzig (1-0) and Heidenheim (2-1).