Bayer Leverkusen hang on in Bundesliga, but shake-up is already under way

In a Bundesliga season full of surprises, this was not one of them. Bayer Leverkusen, as has become habitual in recent weeks, did just enough to avoid the doomsday scenario and in this case, enough to take a crucial point in Saturday’s derby with Köln. They remain only three points above the relegation play-off spot but with current occupants Hamburg and next-worst Wolfsburg playing each other on the final day, Die Werkself will again be a top-flight club next season.

It is quite surreal that having to state that has become necessary but if Leverkusen’s flirtation with sporting ruin leaves one pinching oneself, the club’s first step towards reclaiming some sort of normality most certainly does not. Managing director Michael Schade confirmed after the full-time whistle that coach Tayfun Korkut will leave at the end of the season.

While Schade thanked Korkut for his contribution, he quickly turned to the reality, talking of a season that fell “far below expectations,” an understatement if ever there was one. That’s not all Korkut’s fault – he only took over in March, when Roger Schmidt was sacked the morning after a 6-2 drubbing at Dortmund – but the trajectory since the former Hannover boss took the helm has switched from rudderless drifting to inexorable hurtling to the edge of the waterfall.

In Korkut’s 10 Bundesliga games in charge, Leverkusen have won just once, at long-since-doomed Darmstadt. Though eking out a point in their meeting with Bayern Munich last month deserves some credit, the change of coach has done nothing to instil confidence in a team patently lacking in it. If it hadn’t been for 17-year-old Kai Havertz’s equaliser at (also now-relegated) Ingolstadt last week and this comeback against Köln, the last day of the season would be a very nervous one indeed.

The teams assumed far from habitual roles at kick-off, with Köln arriving as relative high-fliers. Peter Stöger’s team are chasing a first European qualification since 1992, so even if Effzeh consider their ‘real’ derby as the one with Borussia Mönchengladbach, this was no stage for the faint-hearted.

That Köln’s top scorer Anthony Modeste had spoken in the build-up about Leverkusen’s long-serving striker Stefan Kiessling, who had led an anti-Köln chant through a megaphone with fans after the home defeat to Schalke, added further spice. The Frenchman had pointedly said that he and his teammates “remembered” Kiessling’s words, even though Köln sporting director Jorge Schmadtke had received calls from both his opposite number Rudi Völler and Kiessling to apologise.

It was inevitable, then, that Kiessling should play such a major role in the match, even towards the end of a season in which he has been so heavily marginalised. In the early stages, as Leverkusen stepped out of the cocoon of fear which has enveloped them, he led the way, and the early stages could be distilled into a straight-up duel between the centre-forward and visiting goalkeeper Timo Horn, looking back to his best. When Horn was finally beaten, the post denied Kiessling’s header.

Yet it all seemed academic when the pendulum swung heavily in Köln’s favour, Stöger’s team enjoying some luck when Milos Jojic’s shot took a heavy deflection off Tin Jedvaj on its way in, before they displayed their confidence when 20-year-old Lukas Klünter waltzed through to score a fine solo goal for the second, though his finish squeezed under Bernd Leno.

Kiessling, though, was ready to respond. His finish from Julian Brandt’s delivery on the hour was only his third of a miserable season, but few that his team have scored this term have been so vital. When the Finnish substitute Joel Pohjanpalo, like Kiessling affected by injury through much of the campaign, came on to head in his fifth goal of the season (all from the bench, one short of Dimitar Berbatov’s club record of six as a substitute in 2001-02), Leverkusen had their crumb of comfort which turned out to be so much more.

Where they, and Kiessling, go from here is a different question. Korkut was always a strange appointment, a placeholder to try and steady the ship while they figured out how to adjust their path after Schmidt had created a very definite identity for the team. Some were concerned that if Korkut did well between taking over and the end of the season, the club would be almost forced to keep him. They needn’t have worried.

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The successor will at least have room to coach, with no European football for the first time since 2009-10. A good start would be getting the new season off on the right foot in the DfB Pokal, after this campaign was dented by being eliminated by third-tier Sportfreunde Lotte in October. Personnel issues will take some sorting too, with Brandt, Chicharito and the currently-banned Hakan Çalhanoglu all likely to attract interest. Ömer Toprak, who watched nervously from the stands at BayArena on Saturday, has already agreed to join Dortmund.

As for Kiessling, after 159 goals for the club in 11 years of service, he is considering the possibility of early retirement after being dogged by hip and back injuries, and having become despondent after Schmidt increasingly ignored him. “I’ll think about it,” he told reporters. “So much crap has happened in the last year-and-a-half, and I definitely don’t want to continue in the same situation,” adding that he was likely to wait and see what the new coach’s plans are. The rest of Leverkusen’s squad, and fans, are in a similar position of holding their breath.

Talking points

At Schalke, Pierre-Michel Lasogga’s stoppage-time goal – a first in 13 months – kept Hamburg in charge of their own destiny, just. Even after Lasogga’s leveller, Sead Kolasinac headed home a Johannes Geis corner for the hosts, only for it to be ruled that Geis’ kick had gone out before it reached the defender – with TV pictures subsequently failing to resolve the debate. As Hamburg’s sporting director Jens Todt put it: “If this had been a film, the plot would have been written off as unrealistic.” Expect a few more twists next week at Volksparkstadion, where a HSV win would save them from a third relegation play-off in four years, probably at the expense of opponents Wolfsburg, who drew 1-1 with Mönchengladbach this weekend. Unless …

Manuel Baum celebrated the final whistle in his Augsburg side’s 1-1 draw with Dortmund with clenched fists – and then swiftly followed it with a shrug, which pretty much summed it up. The result was a decent one, especially after BVB spent much of the period following Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s equaliser banging on the door for a winner. With the HSV-Wolfsburg game having a play-off before the play-off feel, they should be safe, but the goal difference situation means a 1-0 HSV win and 3-0 Augsburg loss would see them drop below both – and they go to Hoffenheim.

You wouldn’t bet against Hoffenheim racking up a few next week either. They were 5-0 up inside 51 minutes at Werder Bremen, with the outstanding Andrej Kramaric scoring twice, and at that point they were close to retaking third place (and the final automatic Champions League spot) from Dortmund on goal difference, with Die Schwarzgelben being held in Bavaria. The two goals Werder scored in the last four minutes could be vital to Dortmund, who close out against Alexander Nouri’s side at Westfalen next week – without Julian Weigl, who broke his ankle at Augsburg and will be out for at least three months.

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There were goals all over the place, in fact, with Bayern’s 5-4 win at Leipzig perhaps the best game you’ll ever see with nothing riding on it. Ralph Hasenhüttl’s team will be sore, though, having played some sensational football to lead 4-2, and still being 4-3 up entering stoppage time, before David Alaba’s free-kick and Arjen Robben’s sensational winner (the classic dribble in from the left and finish, with the remote control at x2 speed) snatched victory. Mainz went similarly goal-crazy, coming from two down to beat Pokal finalists Eintracht Frankfurt 4-2 and seal safety.

Hertha, meanwhile, moved to the brink of automatic qualification for the Europa League – which would be most welcome, after this season’s embarrassing qualifying flop against Brøndby – with a 2-0 win at Darmstadt, with Salomon Kalou and teenager Jordan Torunarigha netting. Ingolstadt join Darmstadt in going down, becoming the second relegated team despite Dario Lezcano’s goal getting them a draw at Freiburg. Christian Streich’s team, meanwhile, are still in a Europa League spot but face the daunting task of winning at Bayern next week to hold off seventh-placed Köln.

Results: Augsburg 1-1 Dortmund, Werder Bremen 3-5 Hoffenheim, Darmstadt 0-2 Hertha Berlin, Freiburg 1-1 Ingolstadt, Leverkusen 2-2 Köln, Mainz 4-2 Frankfurt, Leipzig 4-5 Bayern Munich, Schalke 1-1 Hamburg, Wolfsburg 1-1 Borussia Mönchengladbach.