FCSP class maintenance is getting closer
© Imago
Bayer Leverkusen continued to fall back in the Bundesliga championship race. After the 1-1 (1-0) at the end of the 30th game day at FC St. Pauli, the defending defending champion to league leaders FC Bayern Munich increased to eight points. Patrik Schick (32nd) brought the guests to the front with his 18th goal of the season. But Carlo Boukhalfa (78th) saved the Hamburgers in front of 29,546 spectators. After all, Bayer remains unbeaten away.
The strong Hanseatic trees, however, settle from the relegation zone. Four game days before the end of the season is the climber as table 14. In the meantime, eight points from the promotion relegation site with 1. FC Heidenheim.
FC St. Pauli started astonishingly stormily without his injured captain Jackson Irvine and kept pushing the Leverkusener in half in the first 20 minutes. Bayer looked a little surprised and took some time to find the game. Compared to the performance in the first half in the 2-1 at Holstein Kiel eight days earlier, the Hamburgers were enormously improved. They also found playful solutions in distress and convinced.
Clear chances of the Kiezkicker were rare. A header from Manoli’s Saliacas (7th) and a shot from Boukhalfa (16th) were still the most promising possibilities. The class of the guests was noticeable with increasing playing time. Jeremie Frimpong (14th) made the first warning shot. The St. Pauli defensive was more and more challenged. Many offensive campaigns ran over international Florian Wirtz, who played again for the first time after six weeks after his inner ligament injury. He couldn’t do anything.
The guest leadership brought a standard situation. After a free kick by Alejandro Grimaldo, Schick was right and nodded the ball into the goal. The Werkself then pushed for the second goal. But the Hamburgers held against it, but were rarely able to combine them.
Despite the deficit, FC St. Pauli could not be discouraged, played, fought, fought and pushed for the equalization. Bayer only seemed to manage the lead. The change from Noah Weißhaupt after almost an hour gave the hosts even more momentum. He immediately took out the free kick for Eric Smith (61st), which Bayer keeper Lukas Hradecky just clarified to the corner.
Weißhaupt was also the flankener to hit Morgan Guilavogui (74th). But the equalizer was whistled back for handball by the St. Pauli striker. Four minutes later, the Hamburg fans were really allowed to cheer when Boukhalfa scored from a short distance. Bayer woke up again. Grimaldo checked St. Pauli’s goalkeeper Nikola Vasilj, who reacted strongly. But FC St. Pauli fought against a defeat. The players threw themselves in every ball – and were rewarded.