Last-gasp Buendia goal keeps Leverkusen’s Bundesliga title hopes alive
HEIDENHEIM, Germany: Emiliano Buendia snatched a stoppage-time winner to take Bayer Leverkusen to a 1-0 win at Heidenheim on Saturday, keeping their slim hopes of defending their league title alive. Eliminated from the German Cup by third-division Arminia Bielefeld on Tuesday, Leverkusen needed a win to stay six points behind league leaders Bayern Munich, who won 3-1 at Augsburg on Friday. Xabi Alonso’s side looked out of ideas in attack against the relegation candidates, missing the creative spark of injured playmaker Florian Wirtz. However, as they have done so often under the Spaniard, Leverkusen scored in injury time to grab all three points, Buendia curling home from outside the box on 91 minutes. Leverkusen’s Jonathan Tah said: “We didn’t play a good game at all... It was difficult today — at the end we needed a bit of luck.” “We needed to win today, we did it, job done — and now we’re still in with a shot,” Leverkusen’s Granit Xhaka told Sky Germany. The goal was Buendia’s first since arriving on loan from Aston Villa and may prove crucial to Leverkusen’s hopes of catching up with an injury-ravaged Bayern side, with six games in the season remaining.