“This is perhaps the most difficult moment of my career.” It was not, it is fair to say, what Andrei Kramaric had expected on a day – and a week – that was going along like a dream. Two days after he had extended his expiring contract for two years at “my second home”, Hoffenheim’s all-time record scorer had dragged them even closer to a surprise return to the Champions League, scoring goals 157 and 158 for the club on a sunny afternoon with the mood of celebration in the air, as they dominated direct rivals Stuttgart. But in the 95th minute, up popped the visitors’ Tiago Tomás out of nowhere to shatter it all. In the race for the top four in the Bundesliga, life comes at you fast.
One could understand Kramaric’s difficulties in absorbing what had just happened. When he left the field in stoppage time to the warm applause of the PreZero Arena Hoffenheim were in fourth position, the (likely) final Champions League spot which they have worked so hard to recover in recent weeks after a big wobble either side of Easter. By the time that the Croatia striker got comfy on the bench his team had seen their lead improbably evaporate, and when he sat down for dinner they were in sixth, following Bayer Leverkusen’s 4-1 demolition of RB Leipzig in the early evening Top game.
It is a day that will be hard to digest but get past it Hoffenheim must, and quickly. They missed a golden opportunity here, 3-1 up and then later, at 3-2, a man up after visiting skipper Atakan Karazor was sent off with just over 20 minutes to go. (Sebastian Hoeness is likely to have to compose his midfield without Karazor for the remaining two games which is an inconvenience, but one which he wasn’t minded to fret over too much here given the unlikely point that his team prised away from this trip to Sinsheim.)
If Hoffenheim’s head coach Christian Ilzer had any hair on his head, he would have been tearing it out as his team missed chance after chance, finding the gloves and body of Alexander Nübel, and the frame of the goal.
How they could have done with the efficiency of Patrik Schick, the scorer of a hat-trick in Leverkusen’s victory that represented a diamond in the far-too-often dirt of their 2026 form and lifted them into fourth at just the right moment. From a statistical perspective it is hard to look further than the Czech striker as Die Werkself at last start to turn themselves around. He now has nine goals in his last six Bundesliga games, a period during which he has also passed the 100-goal mark for the club. But this was a victory for Ibrahim Maza, the 20-year-old midfield maestro at the heart of everything good they do this season, for Nathan Tella, back fit and the scorer of the other goal, and maybe most for Kasper Hjulmand, the oft-questioned coach who engineered his team’s counter-press to perfection and saw his team score from magnificent moves on the break that would have graced the high points of the Xabi Alonso days.
“At the moment, we’re on the right track,” pondered Schick. “But we also know we’ve repeatedly dropped easy points this season. Unfortunately, that means we have to fight until the very last game.”
The good news for Leverkusen in that context – and, potentially, for Hoffenheim – is that the first of their two remaining games is anything but easy, a visit to Stuttgart on Saturday afternoon where they could all but seal the deal for themselves or where the pecking order could change once again. There will also be an eye on Bayern and Freiburg’s midweek adventures in Europe – and Atlético Madrid and Rayo Vallecano’s, with La Liga in possession of the second extra Champions League place at the moment. Without a fifth-place finish to provide access, two teams who have pinned their hopes on a season at the top table next term would be left deflated.
Clearly Leverkusen need it the most, having changed dimension as a club in recent years, and this performance (along with four league wins from the last five) underlined that the penny has dropped with their players. But for their shock defeat at home to Augsburg in mid-April, in which they had 36 shots – rather underlining Schick’s point – they would be within touching distance already. Ilzer has done an incredible job to turn around Hoffenheim, taking them from a fourth-bottom finish last season, just three points ahead of Heidenheim in the playoff place. Meanwhile Stuttgart looking a bit leggy is no real surprise given the season’s workload. This was a 50th game of the season, having reached the Europa League’s last 16 and the DFB-Pokal final where they will finish the campaign as they started it in the DFB Supercup, against Bayern.
All of which, of course, makes this late comeback all the more remarkable. Only two games remain, but it feels like we will be as confused as Kramaric at least once along the way.
Quick GuideBundesliga results
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Bayer Leverkusen 4-1 RB Leipzig, Bayern Munich 3-3 Heidenheim, Eintracht Frankfurt 1-2 Hamburg, Hoffenheim 3-3 Stuttgart, Union Berlin 2-2 Cologne, Werder Bremen 1-3 Augsburg, Freiburg 1-1 Wolfsburg, Borussia Mönchengladbach 1-0 Borussia Dortmund, St Pauli 1-2 Mainz
Talking points
Bayern made a raft of changes for the home game against bottom team Heidenheim with the Champions League semi-final return leg with Paris Saint-Germain in mind but there was still plenty to entertain us at the Allianz Arena; six goals, with the home side striking three more to take their season’s Bundesliga total to a staggering 116, and the last being a trademark Michael Olise curler that hit a post and struck goalkeeper Diant Ramaj before going in, denying Frank Schmidt’s side a famous win in the 11th minute of added time. Remarkably had Heidenheim held on they would be just a point short of the relegation playoff place.
On Sunday there was movement at the bottom but nothing to cut Heidenheim off. Wolfsburg moved out of the bottom two and into the playoff spot ahead of St Pauli (who earlier lost at home to Mainz), despite conceding an equaliser in the last 20 minutes at Freiburg. A late strike from outside the area by Livan Burcu salvaged Union Berlin a point against fellow strugglers Köln, who had led 2-0, with those two results on Sunday meaning Marie-Louise Eta had mathematical safety to add to her first point in sole charge.
Philipp Lienhart’s header for Freiburg – who looked weary and distracted by their upcoming Europa League semi-final return against Braga on Thursday – could turn out to be vital, moving them into the seventh and as stands last European spot above Eintracht Frankfurt. Frankfurt had quite a week, with coach Albert Riera having gone on a six-minute rant in his pre-match conference on what he called the media’s “bullshit” in reporting an alleged dispute between him and striker Jonathan Burkhardt. What Riera really needed to move on from that was a win, but his side looked tentative and uncertain as they slid to home defeat against Hamburg, who have now secured safety too via Fábio Vieira’s winner.
Replacing one of the eventual relegated teams will be Schalke, who secured promotion and the 2.Bundesliga title with Saturday’s 1-0 over Fortuna Düsseldorf. It is a huge personal triumph for coach Miron Muslic and a boost for the top flight, which is largely delighted to have one of German football’s authentic giants back.
