Leverkusen’s Collapse and Rescue Leave the Bundesliga’s Hardest Question
A six-goal draw rescued Bayer 04 Leverkusen from defeat but not the bottom two, while Bayern’s steady lead and Freiburg’s shock victory sharpened the season’s contrasts.
“We weren’t finished,” Leverkusen seemed to say with every late surge. On Saturday, Bayer 04 Leverkusen turned a three-goal deficit against Fortuna Düsseldorf into a 3-3 draw, a result that offered hope in the moment and little relief in the table. They remain 17th, four points above the bottom, with the Bundesliga’s bottom two places bringing relegation.
The match at BayArena belonged, for long stretches, to Fortuna. Jorge opened the scoring on 24 minutes with a high shot from outside the box. Marcus Echsner struck high near a post seven minutes into the second half, and Blaž Jandrić added a close-range goal on 61 minutes. Fortuna had the greater share of the ball and more attempts; goalkeeper Julian Bürkle was kept busy as the visitors pressed their advantage.
But Leverkusen did not accept the shape of the afternoon. Tion Greppmeir converted a penalty on 79 minutes, Dieter Schmitz drove a low shot in from close range three minutes later, and Morgan McNeil completed the recovery in added time, his goal coming through the middle. The crowd had a rescue to celebrate, though the arithmetic remained severe: Leverkusen are 17th on 15 points, while Fortuna’s missed chance to move higher leaves them fifth on 45.
Jandrić was Fortuna’s outstanding presence, with a goal and two assists as his side built what looked like a decisive lead. That a performance of such influence ended in a draw says something uncomfortable about the visitors’ inability to close a game and something stubborn about Leverkusen’s refusal to disappear. A point is not safety. For a club in 17th, even a late escape from defeat carries the shadow of what it cannot yet change.
Dortmund’s late fortune, Leipzig’s stumble
On Sunday, Borussia Dortmund beat Hamburger SV 2-1 in front of 80,069. Sadio Keita gave Dortmund the lead on 53 minutes with a shot from outside the box along the ground. Rafael Vázquez headed Hamburg level from close range on 64 minutes, and the match appeared to be drifting towards a draw until Gérard Leverton scored an own goal in added time.
Keita was the standout, and the points keep Dortmund third on 47. Hamburg, who had begun the round fourth, are now fourth on 46; Fortuna’s draw puts them just one point behind. A match settled by an own goal is a cruel way to lose ground, but the table offers no consolation for the manner of it.
Leipzig’s defeat was more startling. On Sunday, Sport-Club Freiburg won 1-0 at RB Leipzig against the run of play, Alexander Keller heading in from close range on 40 minutes. Andrei Radu was the standout for Freiburg, whose win lifted them to 14th. Leipzig remain second on 50 points, but Bayern’s lead is substantial: they have 63 from 26 games and have now won seven league matches in a row.
The other chase, and the bottom line
FC Bayern München won 2-0 away to SpVgg Greuther Fürth on Sunday, with both goals arriving late. Marcin Jastrzębski headed in from close range on 81 minutes; Yasin Aydemir added a low finish deep in stoppage time. Jastrzębski was the standout. Fürth remain 16th, on 17 points, with the bottom two in the relegation zone and the possibility that 16th could also go down.
There is an old Leverkusen thread running through Bayern’s apparently straightforward afternoon: Greppmeir, now on loan at Bayer 04, scored one league goal in 17 league games for Bayern and five goals in 44 games in all competitions; McNeil scored no league goals in two league games and five goals in 36 games in all competitions for Bayern. Their late goals on Saturday could not alter the club’s position, but they made the point that football’s connections do not respect the table’s neat divisions. Bayern, meanwhile, have been written about this month after their Champions League defeat by Chelsea; domestic consistency is another kind of answer, and their seven straight league wins have kept the title race at arm’s length.
On Sunday, TSG Hoffenheim and Hertha Berlin drew 1-1. Robson put Hertha ahead on 17 minutes with a low close-range finish through the middle; Jan-Luca Dickhaut headed Hoffenheim level just before half-time, high beneath the bar. Dickhaut stood out, and the clubs remain 13th and seventh respectively.
On Saturday, 1. FC Nürnberg won 3-2 at FC St. Pauli. Nürnberg led through Eli Bramall, Daniel Dixon and Ron Yazo; Marco Niemeyer’s penalty and Robin van Dongen’s high strike from outside the box brought St. Pauli back into it, but not level. Van Dongen was the standout despite defeat. St. Pauli fell from 12th to 15th, while Nürnberg are 12th.
Elsewhere, VfL Wolfsburg won 2-0 at DSC Arminia Bielefeld on Sunday, 1. FC Köln beat Eintracht Frankfurt 1-0 on Saturday, and Borussia Mönchengladbach and 1. FSV Mainz 05 drew 0-0. At the top Bayern lead Leipzig by 13 points; below them, Dortmund and Hamburg remain in the European conversation, with Fortuna close behind. At the other end, Leverkusen’s point is less a turning point than a reprieve. The Bundesliga’s most revealing result this weekend was not simply that they came back. It was that, after doing so, they are still 17th.