Patrik Schick scored a hat-trick on Saturday to help the German champions overcome a two-goal deficit and defeat Heidenheim 5-2 in the Bundesliga.
The Czech forward was selected after Victor Boniface was sidelined due to a muscle ailment, and he took full advantage of his opportunity to help Leverkusen win their first game following three straight league draws.
With 20 points in fourth place, nine points behind leaders Bayern Munich, who defeated Augsburg 3-0 on Friday, and one point behind second-place RB Leipzig, who fell to Hoffenheim 4-3, Leverkusen will play RB Salzburg in the Champions League on Tuesday.
Conor McGregor, a mixed martial arts athlete, was found guilty on Friday of sexually assaulting a woman at a party in Dublin in 2018.
After ten minutes, Niklas Dorsch’s strong shot put the visitors ahead, utterly surprising the hosts, who had gotten off to a terrible start.
In the twenty-first minute, Mathias Honsak doubled Leverkusen’s lead by dribbling past three players, powering into the area, and drilling in.
But Leverkusen came back to tie the score with two goals in two minutes.
Before Schick chipped over the Freiburg keeper in the 32nd to go on the scoresheet and level the score, Exequiel Palacios twisted brilliantly in the box and fired in from a tight angle at the half hour mark.
Seven minutes after the break, Florian Wirtz cut back, and Schick beat his marker to flick in the third goal of the afternoon, completing Leverkusen’s comeback.
A minute later, as the hosts increased their pressure on a deflated Heidenheim, Nathan Tell struck the woodwork.
Granit Xhaka curled in their fifth goal from the edge of the box in the 82nd minute, and Schick completed his hat-trick by heading in a cross from Arthur in the 71st.
