Leverkusen’s hopes of a 2nd consecutive Bundesliga title fade with draw at St. Pauli

Leverkusen’s hopes of a 2nd consecutive Bundesliga title fade with draw at St. Pauli
St. Pauli's Carlo Boukhalfa, right, celebrates during the Bundesliga soccer match between FC St. Pauli and Bayer Leverkusen at Millerntor-Stadion, Hamburg, Germany, Sunday April 20, 2025. (AP)
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Updated 21 April 2025

Leverkusen’s hopes of a 2nd consecutive Bundesliga title fade with draw at St. Pauli

Leverkusen’s hopes of a 2nd consecutive Bundesliga title fade with draw at St. Pauli
  • Patrik Schick put Leverkusen ahead in the first half but Carlo Boukhalfa equalized in the 78th to leave the defending champion eight points behind Bayern Munich with four rounds remaining

AUGSBURG, Germany: Bayer Leverkusen’s hopes of a second consecutive Bundesliga title faded with a 1-1 draw at St. Pauli on Sunday.
Patrik Schick put Leverkusen ahead in the first half but Carlo Boukhalfa equalized in the 78th to leave the defending champion eight points behind Bayern Munich with four rounds remaining.
Bayern, which beat Heidenheim 4-0 on Saturday, could clinch the title on Saturday if it beats Mainz and Leverkusen loses to Augsberg.
Last season, Leverkusen completed an unprecedented unbeaten Bundesliga season for its first Germany league title — and also went unbeaten to lift the German Cup.
Dortmund wins after Champions League elimination
Borussia Dortmund beat Borussia Moenchengladbach 3-2 in Dortmund’s first game since its Champions League elimination.
Dortmund scored three goals in the space of nine minutes to turn the game around just before halftime.
Fresh off scoring a hat trick against Barcelona on Tuesday, Serhou Guirassy leveled the score in the 41st off Pascal Gross’ cross following Ko Itakura’s opener for Moenchengladbach.
Felix Nmecha made it 2-1 off a cross from Yan Couto soon after. Daniel Svensson added a third in the fifth minute of first-half added time with a looping header on the rebound when a Guirassy shot was saved.
Kevin Stoger pulled one back for Moenchengladbach with a second-half penalty.
On-loan Chelsea midfielder Carney Chukwuemeka played a prominent role in the buildup to all three of Dortmund’s goals after missing the Barcelona loss with injury.
Augsburg rescues a point
A last-second clearance from Cédric Zesiger rescued a point for Augsburg in a 0-0 draw with Eintracht Frankfurt that set back both teams’ efforts to qualify for European competition next season.
Frankfurt’s Ansgar Knauff seemed certain to score after dribbling past defender Zesiger and goalkeeper Finn Dahmen but Zesiger sprinted back and slid to block Knauff’s shot in front of an unguarded net.
Augsburg nearly took the win in the final minutes but Frankfurt goalkeeper Kevin Trapp reacted quickly to push Phillip Tietz’s shot around the post.
Frankfurt stays third but has won just four of 12 Bundesliga games since forward Omar Marmoush left for Manchester City in January as teams behind have gained ground. Augsburg is 10th and in a midtable battle for the lower European places.


Battling Barcelona earn 3-3 draw in thriller against Brugge

Battling Barcelona earn 3-3 draw in thriller against Brugge
Updated 06 November 2025

Battling Barcelona earn 3-3 draw in thriller against Brugge

Battling Barcelona earn 3-3 draw in thriller against Brugge
  • Barcelona found their equalizer in the 77th minute when Yamal lifted a cross into the box and defender Seys headed the ball into his own net when trying to clear

BRUGES, Belgium: Barcelona fought back three times to snatch a 3-3 draw at Club Brugge in the Champions League on Wednesday, equalising for the final time late in the game with an own goal from 20-year-old Belgium defender Joaquin Seys.
Barcelona are now 11th in the standings on seven points from four matches while Club Brugge sit 22nd on four points, with both teams still in the hunt for qualification.
In a thriller at Brugge’s Jan Breydel Stadium, the home side opened the scoring through Nicolo Tresoldi in the sixth minute, after a quick counter by Carlos Forbs that exposed the vulnerability of Barcelona’s high defense.
The 21-year-old jet-heeled Portuguese forward controlled a long ball in his stride to beat the offside trap up the right channel before bursting into the box and crossing low for Tresoldi to score with a tidy finish past the goalkeeper.
Barcelona hit right back with Ferran Torres from close range two minutes later but Brugge regained the lead in the 17th minute with Forbs scoring after another quick counter.
In an end-to-end encounter with both sides creating several chances, Jules Kounde struck the crossbar in the 27th minute as Barcelona tried to find the equalizer, while Ferran Torres missed from close range right before the break.

FRANTIC FINALE
Barcelona keeper Wojciech Szczesny made a stunning save early in the second half when Seys entered the penalty box in a counter-attack and struck a bullet shot from close range that the veteran Polish keeper blocked away brilliantly.
Barca defender Eric Garcia almost scored in the 59th minute with a thunderous strike from long range that exploded off the crossbar but it was teenager Lamine Yamal who scored a brilliant individual goal one minute later to level the match again. However, it took Club Brugge only two minutes to get back the lead, with Forbs scoring from another counter-attack, beating Barcelona’s high defense again for the umpteenth time before chipping a tidy finish round Szczesny into the net.
Barcelona found their equalizer in the 77th minute when Yamal lifted a cross into the box and defender Seys headed the ball into his own net when trying to clear.
There was more drama as Brugge thought they had scored the winner in added time through Romeo Vermant, thanks to what looked to have been a massive blunder by Szczesny. But the VAR video review ruled out the goal as the forward fouled the keeper in his effort to recover the ball, helping Barca rescue a point.
“They have created a lot of danger on the counter-attack and we should have done much better everywhere,” a visibly frustrated Ferran Torres told Movistar Plus.
“It seemed like that with two passes they were already in our box. We have to find ways to improve. The team reacted well, we had a lot of chances. But when you’re behind... It’s tough.”