They did little wrong, but fortune refused to shine on them. Lukas Hradecky spread himself with authority, denying Ermedin Demirovic’s finish, but his block cannoned straight into the onrushing Granit Xhaka and the ball nestled in the net in front of the Cannstatter Kurve. Bayer Leverkusen have been bowed far more often than is habitual in the last few weeks, and now they looked to be down and out. It was one of those actions, one of those days, one of those runs, that said it’s just not your season.
In fact, it wasn’t even the first time they’d appeared to be cooked on Sunday evening. That was when Stuttgart’s Nick Woltemade, the throwback striker who has been one of the season’s low-key revelations, slotted a tidy finish past Hradecky for 2-0 less than three minutes into the second half. We have seen Leverkusen react what feels like a hundred times from this – just not in the last week and a half.
