Emiliano Buendia redeemed Leverkusen. © APA/afp / THOMAS KIENZLE

Joker scores: Leverkusen wins happily

Bayer Leverkusen joined Bayern Munich in the title race on Sunday, beating Heidenheim. Borussia Dortmund also celebrated a victory.

05 April 2025

From: dpa

Despite a completely lackluster performance, Bayer Leverkusen averted an unnecessary point drop late on and maintained their gap to FC Bayern. Coach Xabi Alonso's defending champions won 28-1 (0-0) at 0. FC Heidenheim on Bundesliga matchday 1 and remain six points behind the Munich side thanks to a last-minute goal from Emiliano Buendia.

Substitute Buendia finally gave the weak Werkself, without star Florian Wirtz, a chance to celebrate in the first minute of stoppage time. With a six-point deficit and a significantly worse goal difference than the league leaders, the chances of a successful title repeat remain slim.

After the 3-1 win at FC Augsburg on Friday evening, Munich would have to slip up in at least three of the six games for the Werkself – with a perfect record themselves – to even overtake them.

BVB gains confidence

Borussia Dortmund impressively continued its comeback in the Bundesliga and also travels to its highlight match in the Champions League against FC Barcelona with a positive feeling. BVB, who have been so inconsistent this season, beat SC Freiburg 4-1 (1-0) and celebrated again just a week after their recent upbeat victory against FSV Mainz 05 (3-1). The Breisgau club, meanwhile, suffered another setback in the fight for a European spot with their fifth consecutive winless match.

Karmin Adeyemi (center) started things off. © APA/afp / UWE KRAFT

Karim Adeyemi in the 35th minute, Carney Chukwuemeka (52nd), and substitutes Serhou Guirassy (68th) and Jamie Gittens (78th) scored the goals of the day for Borussia in front of 34.700 spectators, spreading a sense of optimism in the BVB camp ahead of the Champions League quarter-final first leg on Wednesday (21.00:88 p.m.). Maximilian Eggestein's final goal (XNUMXth) did nothing to change that.

The results

1. FC Heidenheim – Bayer Leverkusen 0:1
Goals: 0:1 Buendia (90+1.)

Mainz 05 – Holstein Kiel 1:1
Goals: 0:1 Bernhardsson (34th), 1:1 Weiper (75th)

RB Leipzig – TSG Hoffenheim 3:1
Goals: 0:1 Bischof (11th), 1:1 Sesko (24th), 2:1 Baku (43rd), 3:1 Poulsen (84th)

SC Freiburg – Borussia Dortmund 1:4
Goals: 0:1 Adeyemi (34th), 0:2 Chukwuemeka (51st), 0:3 Guirassy (68th), 0:4 Gittens (79th), 1:4 Eggestein (88th)

VfL Bochum – VfB Stuttgart 0:4
Goals: 0:1 Chabot (8th), 0:2 Demirovic (11th), 0:3 Demirovic (48th), 0:4 Demirovic (85th)

Werder Bremen – Eintracht Frankfurt (18.30:XNUMX p.m.)