Head coach Xabi Alonso's starting line-up showed two changes from the 1-1 draw at Bochum before the international break: Exequiel Palacios and Aleix Garcia came in for Robert Andrich and Jonas Hofmann, who has been ruled out for the rest of the year with a muscle strain. In an early spell of dominance for Leverkusen, Granit Xhaka had the first attempt (4') before Jeremie Frimpong couldn't quite get on the end of Florian Wirtz's ball two minutes later. The first goal came at the other end, however, with Heidenheim's first attack. Marvin Pieringer won the ball by the corner flag and cut it back to Niklas Dorsch, who netted the opening goal from a central position. Just after that, Lukas Hradecky stopped another shot from Pieringer (13').
Bayer 04 regained control of the ball after that but came up against well-drilled opponents - who also found the net with their second real chance. Mathias Honsak got through with a solo run and found the far corner to make it 2-0 after 21 minutes. Five minutes later, Edmond Tapsoba came within a whisker of pulling a goal back, hitting the post from distance. But Palacios did so on the half-hour mark, firing home on the turn. The goal fest continued at the Bay Arena, with Patrik Schick levelling at 2-2 just two minutes later with a neat lob. FCH goalkeeper Kevin Müller then stopped the Czech from scoring again (40'). There was bad news for Alonso's side just before the break as Frimpong was forced off in stoppage time following a collision, with Nathan Tella taking his place.
Wirtz fired the first warning shot of the second half (50'), before the playmaker set up the Werkself's third goal of the afternoon a mere three minutes later. His low cross from the right was converted by a typical poacher's first-time finish from Schick from close range - 3-2, turnaround complete! Bayer 04 had long shaken off their poor start and were enjoying themselves now. Tella's deflected shot missed by millimetres (55'), bouncing off the inside of the post. There were no notable attacking actions for a while after that, although Piero Hincapie made a crucial intervention to stop substitute Sirlord Conteh on 69 minutes.
Then came the next goal for the home side: Xhaka played a well-timed pass into the path of Arthur on the right, and he crossed towards the far post - where who else but Schick was in position to head in and make it 4-2 (71'). Hat-trick for Schick, whose name rang out from the stands of the BayArena. Xhaka completed the scoring with a superb long-distance strike in the 82nd minute - the closing point of an eventful contest, in which the Werkself never threw in the towel and were rewarded with three vital points.
The games come quickly for the Werkself now, continuing with a home match in the UEFA Champions League on Tuesday 26 November (kick-off 21:00 CET), when FC Salzburg from Austria are the visitors. The next Bundesliga assignment is on Saturday 30 November (kick-off 15:30 CET) at 1. FC Union Berlin.
Match stats:
Bayer 04: Hradecky - Tapsoba, Tah, Hincapie - Frimpong (Tella 45'+3), Palacios (Andrich 77'), Xhaka, Garcia (Arthur 69'), Grimaldo - Wirtz (Terrier 77') - Schick
Heidenheim: Müller - Traoré, Mainka, Gimber, Föhrenbach - Schöppner, Maloney (Kerber 84') - Beck (Scienza 61'), Dorsch (Kaufmann 61'), Honsak (Conteh 61') - Pieringer (Wanner 28')
Goals: 0-1 Dorsch (10'), 0-2 Honsak (21'), 1-2 Palacios (30'), 2-2 Schick (32'), 3-2 Schick (52'), 4-2 Schick (71'), 5-2 Xhaka (82')
Referee: Bastian Dankert (Rostock)
Attendance: 29,103 (home section sold out) at the BayArena
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