Schick hat-trick inspires five-star Leverkusen
A hat-trick from Bayer Leverkusen's Patrik Schick inspired the defending Bundesliga champion to come from two goals down to beat Heidenheim 5-2.
The emphatic triumph saw Xabi Alonso's side extend its unbeaten league run to nine matches, moving it up to fourth but still nine points behind leader Bayern Munich.
However, Leverkusen was behind inside the opening 10 minutes when Niklas Dorsch was teed up by Marvin Pieringer inside the box.
Heidenheim doubled that advantage soon after through Mathias Honsak, who danced his way beyond three defenders before finishing into the bottom left corner.
But two goals in two minutes from Exequiel Palacios and Schick drew the hosts level, with Leverkusen able to take a hold of the contest after the interval.
Schick notched his second of the game seven minutes after the restart to put Leverkusen ahead when he brilliantly flicked Florian Wirtz's cross beyond Kevin Muller.
The Czech striker completed his hat-trick with a header in the 71st minute, with Granit Xhaka sealing the win with a curled finish into the far left corner.
Ahead of kick-off, Leverkusen was dealt a huge injury blow with in-form striker Victor Boniface potentially ruled out until next year, but it needn't have worried.
Schick grasped his opportunity with both hands, putting on an impressive display and ending the game with more shots on target (four) and more touches in the opposition box (13), while also accumulating a team-high expected goals (xG) tally of 1.37 to Leverkusen's 2.05 total.
He has now scored three or more goals in a Bundesliga game on three occasions for Leverkusen, with only Ulf Kirsten (seven) having done so more times for the club.
Alonso was critical of his team's poor start after the match.
"The first 20 minutes were hard, hard on the pitch and hard mentally," Alonso said.
"They bullied us in midfield. We could not find any good situations.
"We then managed to find better solutions after the break, and we were more stable. That was the key to the better second half.
"We had a bit of a doubt at the start, it was too hectic, we were too nervous," he added.
"We could relax a bit during the break, and then we saw a much better second half, with more control and more stability. Mentally, we were much better."
Aside from the poor start, Alonso singled out Schick in particular for praise after the game, with his perfect hat-trick having helped win the match for the hosts.
"It was a perfect hat-trick. It is so important for a striker to get into this rhythm, to have that feeling and with us having a lot of matches during this time," Alonso said.
