Bundesliga: Leverkusen’s Top-Four Hopes Dented by Late Augsburg Penalty

Leverkusen denied penalty, concede one, Augsburg win it late

Fabian Rieder’s stoppage-time penalty gave Augsburg a 2-1 win at Leverkusen, ending the hosts’ seven-game unbeaten run and denting their top-four hopes.

Augsburg score late winner to dent Bayer Leverkusen's Champions League hopes...

Bayer Leverkusen missed the chance to make it three straight Bundesliga wins as Augsburg struck late from the spot to seal a 2-1 away victory at the BayArena, a result that drops Die Werkself to sixth.

The visitors had a nervy opening when a poor clearance dropped straight to Ibrahim Maza, but Finn Dahmen tipped his effort over the bar.

Yet he could do nothing to stop Patrik Schick putting Leverkusen ahead with his 75th goal for the club, a thumping header from Edmond Tapsoba’s cross that made it four goals in his last four league games.

Leverkusen’s Bundesliga matches had averaged a league-high two first-half goals per game before kick-off, and that trend held when Augsburg levelled almost immediately through Fabian Rieder, who met Dimitris Giannoulis’s lay-off with a shot that appeared to catch Mark Flekken off guard.

  

Leverkusen wasted several chances to retake the lead before half-time, with Nathan Tella showing why he’d gone 22 games without a goal as he looped a header over, then dragged a shot wide from a good position soon after.

Augsburg snatch a late win.

90+8 | 1-2 | #B04FCA pic.twitter.com/G0PIz1p09U

— Bayer 04 Leverkusen (@bayer04_en) April 18, 2026

Dahmen then reacted well to tip Tapsoba’s header away, before Schick and Alejandro Grimaldo fired off target. Rodrigo Ribeiro also flashed a rare Augsburg chance wide, but the visitors owed Dahmen for keeping it level after a vital double save to deny Tella and Schick.

Unlike the first half, Flekken was the busier keeper early in the second, first denying Giannoulis from a tight angle before pushing away Ribeiro’s effort moments later.

Leverkusen still carried a threat, and Tella would have been stunned not to have scored as he dribbled past two defenders only to shoot straight at Dahmen with the goal at his mercy. Grimaldo then tried his luck after scoring twice in Leverkusen’s last home match, but his effort flew the wrong side of the post.

The hosts kept probing but lacked a cutting edge, with Maza curling wide before Tella wasted another chance as the ball ran through his legs just yards from goal. It clearly wasn’t their day when they were denied a penalty after a VAR check following appeals for a Jeffrey Gouweleeuw handball in the box.

Then, in a dramatic twist, Augsburg were awarded a penalty of their own in stoppage time when Montrell Culbreath clumsily brought down Uchenna Ogundu in the box, leaving Rieder to break Leverkusen hearts.

The midfielder kept his cool to convert from the spot for his brace and hand the visitors a first win in six Bundesliga games.

As a result, Leverkusen’s seven-match unbeaten league run came to an end, with attention now shifting to their DFB-Pokal semi-final against Bayern Munich in midweek. Meanwhile, Augsburg pulled off a shock league double over their opponents but remain stuck in mid-table, though it’s a win the travelling fans won’t forget in a hurry.