Xavi Alonso says Bayer Leverkusen must bounce back from their surprise DFB-Pokal defeat and focus on challenging for silverware in the Bundesliga.

Leverkusen, who won the DFB-Pokal last season, were beaten 2-1 by third-tier Arminia Bielefeld in the semi-finals on Tuesday, losing their first match in the competition since Alonso took over.

Having also been knocked out of the Champions League last month by Bayern Munich, the reigning champions are not turning their attention to the title race, where they sit six points behind Vincent Kompany's side.

That gap, however, could open up to nine points ahead of Leverkusen's match against Heidenheim on Saturday, with Bayern facing Augsburg on Friday.

Leverkusen have won all three of their Bundesliga meetings against Heidenheim so far, scoring 11 goals. Alonso's side are also unbeaten in their last 30 away games in the German top-flight (W22 D8), the second-longest run in league history (33 by Bayern).

"Now we can really focus only on the Bundesliga because the situation is a different one," Alonso told a press conference.

"But after the DFB-Pokal defeat, we have to keep going. We have seven matches in the league left to play, and we have to win them."

Against Bielefeld, Leverkusen managed 13 shots worth 1.05 expected goals (xG), with four of those attempts on target, while they also hit the woodwork. 

However, they gave up four 'big' chances at the other end, while Bielefeld generated 1.43 xG from only eight attempts. 

In the Bundesliga, Leverkusen are given just a 4.1% chance of retaining their title by the Opta supercomputer, with Bayern's chances sitting at 95.9%.

Alonso emphasised the importance of getting back to winning ways on Saturday as there was no room for dropped points at this stage of the season.

"Now it is only about the Bundesliga. We are in an interesting position for anything to happen, so we will see," Alonso said, adding he had been talking to his players in the past days to quickly overcome the DFB-Pokal setback.

"The best thing is to talk, to share our emotions. It was an important goal for us to go to Berlin [for the DFB-Pokal final], but sometimes you have to accept that sport is like that.

"We had big expectations to be in Berlin, but now is the moment... to show a good reaction and a good spirit. That's what we want [on Saturday]."