15:30 Kickoffs: Leverkusen, Hoffenheim, Dortmund, Stuttgart, and Wolfsburg all victorious

A hat trick from Patrik Schick was among five unanswered goals scored by defending Bundesliga champions Bayer 04 Leverkusen at the BayArena on Saturday afternoon. Xabi Alonso’s Werkself were able to battle back against Frank Schmidt’s Heidenheim after the spry guests took a surprise 2-0 lead. A much-needed three points now at least ensures that Leverkusen have won as many matches as they’ve drawn in the 2024/25 campaign. 

Xabi made two changes to the team that drew Bochum just prior to the international break. Exequiel Palacios took over for Robert Andrich in midfield. Interestingly enough, defensive Aleix Garcia was tapped to replace the injured Jonas Hofmann in attack. Xabi positioned both Palacios and Garcia forward ahead of solo-six Granit Xhaka in what appeared to be an offensive-minded 3-1-4-2 with Florian Wirtz and Schick in attack. 

Schmidt also went with two changes to the team that furnished a disappointing performance against Wolfsburg last round.Midfield metronome Lennard Maloney returned to take the place of Paul Wanner, who was carrying an injury picked up on international duty. Midfielder Adrian Beck was also preferred to attacker Leonardo Scienza. The Albogeners lined up in a 4-1-4-1 with Jan Schöppner operating as the solo-six. 

The defending champs ensured that traffic went only one way in the opening ten minutes, yet still found themselves behind after near misses from Xhaka and Wirtz. The Swabian guests scored against the run-of-play in the 10th, capitalizing on a poor Leverkusen throw-in with a blitz counter. Marvin Pieringer snatched the ball away from Piero Hincapie to set up Niklas Dorsch’s 1-0. 

The game opened up significantly after the early goal, with Xhaka and Pieringer trading chances during an exciting period of end-to-end action. The hosting Werkself ended up coming out worse-for-wear in the 21st when Mathias Honsak netted the 2-0. Dorsch picked up an assist credit on the second goal as Honsak impressively weaved past Xhaka and Jonathan Tah before finishing from an acute angle. 

Xabi’s men eventually pulled a goal back at the half-hour-mark on a brute-force press in the box. Palacios bulged the roof of the net in the 30th. The Argentine’s shot crossed the goal line with some help from FCH defender Benedikt Timber and keeper Kevin Müller. Two minutes later, Leverkusen equalized on a more elegant play. Palacios adroitly unlocked Schick, who headed in over the onrushing Müller for the 2-2. 

Energized by the quick double-strike, the Westphalians proceeded to dominate their overwhelmed guests. The lead always seemed within the grasp of Xabi’s team. After a long period of sustained pressure than spilled over to the second half, Schick finally scored the 3-2 in the 52nd. Wirtz – silky smooth throughout the match – set up the Czech striker with an excellent run and cross.

Heidenheim – despite having little to offer in terms of a response – did nearly equalizer off a Sirlord Conteh effort in the 69th. Two minutes after that, however, the game was effectively decided when B04 substitute Arthur chipped in a sumptuous ball for Schick in the 71st. Schick barely had to move in order to tap in his third goal.

Xhaka took advantage of the totally flabbergasted FCH ranks to score his own goal in the 82nd. Leverkusen sub Nathan Tella played in an excellent through ball to set the Swiss superstar up on the final goal of the afternoon. 

Elsewhere in the Bundesliga’s 15:30 kickoffs:

Hoffenheim-Leipzig

In the fixture referred to by Germans as “El Plastico”, the goals rained down in Sinsheim. New Hoffenheim trainer Christian Ilzer’s Kraichgauer got off to a spirited start in front of their hometown fans at the PreZero Arena. It was nevertheless visiting RB Leipzig that struck first after Ilzer’s crew dominated the opening quarter-of-an-hour. Antonio Nusa did an incredible job setting up Willi Orban’s 1-0 in the 15th, shaking off five markers and delivering an inch-perfect cross. The hosts struck back immediately in the form of a 17th-minute Adam Hlozek equalizer. 

Two minutes after that, however, it was once again Nusa’s turn to shine. The Norwegian talent – never shy about announcing his presence in the Bundesliga – smashed in a gorgeous screamer from just outside the 18 to put the German Red Bulls back on top 2-1 in the 19th. Hoffenheim remained active over the rest of the opening half with Hlozek and Haris Tabakovic missing chances at the equalizer. Tabakovic also met his master in RB keeper Peter Gulacsi three minutes after the restart. 

Tom Bischof ultimately scored the equalizer off a dead ball in the 50th. The rising German youth international bent in a free-kick exquisitely, sending the ball just past the wall and into the net via a kiss of the left post. Unfortunately, a critical mistake from TSG defender Stanley Nsoki in the 67th allowed the Saxon guests to re-take the lead. The oft-maligned center-back pushed an attempted clearance of a Nusa cross past his own goal-line. Thankfully for Ilzer, the story was not over yet. 

The new TSG trainer’s introduction of Danish attacker Jacob Bruun Larsen helped swing the match back in the favor of the Rhein-Neckar hosts. Larsen assisted on Hlozek’s second goal of the match in the 82nd. Five minutes after the fine distance finish from the Czech international allowed Hoffenheim to equalize, Bruun Larsen scored the game-winning goal in the 87th. The Dane rose high to best RB captain Willi Orban in a direct aerial duel on the 4-3. 

Dortmund-Freiburg

For all of their struggles, Nuri Sahin’s Borussia Dortmund were once again able to deliver a superb performance at home. The loss of lead-striker Serhou Guirassy mattered little as young German striker Maximilian Beier excelled at his natural position. Beier put the BVB ahead with a skillful control touch and finish in the 7th. A fine first half from just about everyone in black-and-yellow (including keeper Gregor Kobel) ensured that Dortmund were able to head down the tunnel with a 2-0 half-time lead. Felix Nmecha swung in a beautiful curler in the 40th after a scintillating solo dribble from Jamie Gittens. 

Matters got worse for Julian Schuster’s Freiburg after the restart. After 18 minutes of limp football, SCF midfielder Patrick Osterhage was sent off on double yellows in the 63rd. Dortmund scored two more goals with the man advantage. Julian Brandt powered home the free-kick awarded by Osterhage’s foul for the 3-0. Gittens added the 4-0 in the 77th. BVB left-back Ramy Bensebaini picked up two assists on the afternoon after setting up both Gittens and Beier over the course of the match. SCF substitute Junior Adamu became the second Freiburg player to be sent off near the end. 

Wolfsburg-Union Berlin

Ralph Hasenhüttl’s VfL Wolfsburg sought to secure their first home win of the season over at the Volkswagen Arena. Though the German Wolves kept most of the ball in the opening 45, Hasenhüttl’s troops supplied very little in terms of scoring chances during a rough and choppy first-half. Bo Svensson’s visiting 1. FC Union Berlin, meanwhile, struggled to get the ball out of their own half. A double substitution from Svensson at the half livened things up a bit and both teams played better in the second half.

A goal from former German youth international Ridle Baku in the 71st finally opened the scoring. VfL captain Maximilian Arnold and newly adapted midfielder Bence Dardai were both involved in setting Baku up. An unusually raucous crowd kept the noise level high in order to cheer their team onto a slender victory. Germany’s green company team are now undefeated in five matches on-the-spin thanks to the win and firmly out of the relegation discussion. 

Stuttgart-Bochum

An injury-hit Stuttgart side managed to deliver some entertaining football for about 20 minutes at the MHP Arena before running out of ideas against a defensively-disciplined VfL Bochum. Sebastian Hoeneß’ Württembergers finally broke a 0-0 deadlock eight minutes after the restart when Chris Führich (who had plenty of chances to score during the exciting opening phase) curled in a fabulous finish from 20 meters out in the 53rd. 

The outcome appeared in little doubt after the opening goal. Hoeneß was made to look quite sharp when two of his substitutes combined to double the advantage. Fabian Rieder played highly touted German phenom Justin Diehl in very well in the 78th. The 19-year-old former Köln phenom commemorated his inaugural Bundesliga goal on the 2-0.