Until now, most people in the Bayer Leverkusen crowd only knew this very special trait of their favorite team from afar: the incredible ability to score goals in stoppage time. Until the dramatic 3-2 win against Qarabag Agdam, the greatest moments of this kind had taken place outside of their own arena, at FC Bayern for example, where Ezequiel Palacios scored very late to make it 2-2 (90th + 4). There are also winning goals after the 90th minute, in the 1-0 win in Baku in the group stage at Qarabag (Boniface, 90th + 4), in the 1-0 win in Augsburg (Palacios, 90th + 4) and in the 3-2 in Leipzig (Hincapie, 90.+1).
On Thursday evening, the audience in their own stadium finally experienced such a bewitching final act, when the Werkself were down 2-1 after 90 minutes in the round of 16 of the Europa League and Patrik Schick even scored two more goals (90.+3 and 90.+ 7). “That was intense, that was an incredible evening,” said Schick afterwards. “I’m at a loss for words today,” added Granit Xhaka, only to somehow describe what this halo of invincibility feels like.
