St. Pauli saves points against Leverkusen - ascent in close range!

St. Pauli saves points against Leverkusen - ascent in close range!

On April 22, 2025, the eagerly awaited duel in the Bundesliga between FC St. Pauli and Bayer 04 Leverkusen with a 1-1 draw. In a gripping game on the beautiful, sunny back straight, the hosts were able to secure the draw, and thus make an important soil in the fight for relegation.

FC St. Pauli went into the game with the aim of enlarging the distance to the relegation place. With the point win, the team of head coach Alexander Blessin is now eight points ahead of 16th place, which makes it more likely to relegate. In a game with intensive phases, both teams tried to play their offensive strength.

game course and crucial moments

The encounter began to compensate for, with St. Pauli taking the first chances. Both a header from Manoli's Saliacas in the 7th minute and another attempt by Carlo Boukhalfa (11th minute) showed the hosts' offensive. On the other hand, Jeremie Frimpong failed just at the goal in the 14th minute. Leverkusen then struck in the 32nd minute when Patrik Schick scored 1-0 after a free kick flank by Alex Grimaldo.

In the course of the first half, the encounter of intensive duels was shaped, and Leverkusen seemed to take control at first glance. But St. Pauli, under the command of Blessin, stuck vigorously and showed an impressive reaction in the second half.

In the 78th minute it was finally Boukhalfa that made the equalization after Leverkusen's goalkeeper Lukas Hrádecký could not hold a free kick. With this, St. Pauli secured a valuable point, while Bayer Leverkusen continues to be in tenth place and after the game there is 4 points behind Bayern Munich, while hoping for a championship race.

tactical adjustments and change of player

Almost parallel to the tactical changes of Alexander Blessin and his coaching team, Xabi Alonso also reacted to the game. Blessin changed his starting eleven for this important duel and brought Sieben van der Heyden, Connor Metcalfe, Carlo Boukhalfa and Morgan Guilavogui into the starting formation. This decision paid off, in particular through the performance of Boukhalfa, which in the end scored the decisive goal.

Leverkusen tried to aggressively build pressure in the course of the game, but had difficulty finding clear degrees. In the last minutes of the game, the game was shaped by many interruptions, which affected the rhythmic river. The two yellow cards for Hrádecký and other Leverkusen players were remarkable, while the hosts did not display yellow cards.

viewed superficially, the game for St. Pauli was a signal for the positive development of the team. With 29,546 spectators, the stadium was again able to report a sold -out house, which underlined the strong support of the fans, who also expressed a positive statement about the team's performance after the game.

For more information and statistics on the Bundesliga, please visit kicker.de .