Schalke 04 2 - 3 Bayer Leverkusen: Bayer Leverkusen improve chances of playing in the Champions League next season

Posted Sunday, April 24, 2016 by PA

Bayer Leverkusen came from two goals down to beat Schalke 3-2 and strengthen their grip on a place in the Champions League next season.

Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting and Leroy Sane gave Schalke a 2-0 half-time lead - and it could have been three with Klaas-Jan Huntelaar seeing a penalty saved.

Leverkusen hit back in the second half, though, with quickfire goals from Julian Brandt, Karim Bellarabi and Javier Hernandez seeing them take all three points and pull nine points clear of their hosts.

Schalke had an early chance to take the lead when Sane was felled inside the penalty area, but Bernd Leno denied Huntelaar from the penalty spot.

Brandt could have given Leverkusen the lead, but his lob over Ralf Fahrmann landed wide of the right-hand post.

The hosts went in front with their next attack, Choupo-Moting taking the ball forward and shooting from the edge of the penalty area, with a deflection helping it on its way past Leno.

Sane exchanged passes with Max Meyer before supplying a cool finish to double Schalke's lead, with the Royal Blues deceivingly looking in control of the game.

The second half told a different story.

Brandt scored for the fifth game in a row, Bellarabi playing a neat ball through into his path and allowing him to take just one touch with the outside of his right boot to thread his shot between Fahrmann and his right-hand post.

Hernandez then set up Charles Aranguiz, who lifted his shot over Fahrmann but onto the crossbar, before Bellarabi surprised Fahrmann by taking a long ball on the volley from the left-hand side of the penalty area - and the Schalke goalkeeper could only help it on its way inside his near post.

Hernandez then put Leverkusen in front with their third goal in six minutes, Brandt leading a swift counter-attack and teeing up the Mexican to flash his shot across Fahrmann into the opposite corner.

Aranguiz hit the crossbar again with a direct free-kick as Schalke fell apart, but Andre Breitenreiter's men regrouped and tried to hit back.

Huntelaar's shot was saved expertly by Leno as the hosts tried but failed to find an equaliser, with Breitenreiter's future likely to be the subject of discussion after a defeat which leaves the Royal Blues unlikely to qualify for the Champions League next season.