Leverkusen have lost faith in the championship title

Bayer Leverkusen's managers and players were under no illusions. After the 1:1 draw at promoted FC St. Pauli, they more or less ticked off the title defense in the Bundesliga. Four matchdays before the end of the season, the still-champions are now eight points behind leaders FC Bayern Munich. In addition, Munich have a goal difference that is 29 goals better.

Goalscorer Patrik Schick was the most outspoken on the streaming service DAZN. "We have to be honest: The chance is gone," said the Czech, who had put his team ahead at Hamburg's Millerntor with his 18th goal of the season.

Match at FC St. Pauli like many recent Bayer games

His coach also remained realistic. "Of course, mathematically it's not over yet," said Xabi Alonso. "But we know there are only a few chances left." But the season is not over, the Spaniard warned. "We have to remain professionals and prepare for every game as always."

The match against FC St. Pauli was almost a carbon copy of Leverkusen's previous games. Little energy and even less creativity - there is currently nothing to be seen of the exhilarating Bayer football of last season with the double of championship and DFB Cup. "We won games like that last season," said captain and goalkeeper Lukas Hradecky with annoyance. "We played too many draws."

Granit Xhaka and Leverkusen will probably remain without a title this season.

Keystone

At the same point last season, Leverkusen had 25 wins and five draws. There were no defeats for the entire season. This year, the works team has 18 wins, ten draws and two defeats in the table after 30 match days.

"Too often, even when we were leading, we let the opposition come back and didn't score the second goal to decide the game," said Head of Sport Simon Rolfes.

After all: Second place is as good as secure

In Hamburg, Leverkusen tried to console themselves with the fact that second place was as good as secured. The lead over third-placed Eintracht Frankfurt is still twelve points, while Bayer's goal difference is 13 goals better.

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Will Granit Xhaka leave Leverkusen in the summer?

"If you look at the last ten years, we haven't managed to finish second this often," said Rolfes. Striker Schick had a similar view: "Second place isn't bad either. We have to be down to earth. Last season was incredible," he said.