Bayern Leverkusen 6-0 Heidenheim: Schick and Maza bag braces in rout
Bayer Leverkusen quickly put last week's defeat to Bayern Munich behind them, with their biggest win of the season so far.
Patrik Schick and Ibrahim Maza both scored twice as Bayer Leverkusen thumped Heidenheim 6-0 in the Bundesliga on Saturday.
Just 72 seconds were on the clock when Schick slotted in the opener; a lightning-quick counter saw Ernest Poku drive through the middle before laying it off to the striker on the left of the box, for his low drive into the bottom-right corner.
Having rolled a tame effort into Diant Ramaj's gloves earlier on, Jonas Hofmann glanced in Leverkusen's second 16 minutes in, beating the goalkeeper from close range.
Six minutes later, a defensive collision between Ramaj and Patrick Mainka deflected Hofmann's cross into Schick's path, and he emphatically finished on the goal line.
Poku got in on the act in the 27th minute, guiding a brilliant looping volley over his defender and into the top-left corner, giving the goalkeeper no chance.
Maza piled more misery on Heidenheim, who had already made a double substitution, in the first minute of first-half stoppage time, stretching out a leg to deflect Aleix Garcia's cross into the bottom-right corner.
The Algeria international rounded off the scoring in the 53rd minute, brushing off his defender to rifle a close-range finish past the static Ramaj.
Robert Andrich and Alex Grimaldo saw late chances thwarted by the goalkeeper, as Heidenheim failed to offer any response, stretching their winless streak to five games.
Data Debrief: Leverkusen respond in style
Last weekend's loss to Bayern Munich is already a distant memory for Kasper Hjulmand, with Leverkusen treating their home fans to an emphatic victory.
Only once in their Bundesliga history have the Werkself won by a margin of more than six goals – beating SSV Ulm 9-1 in March 2000.
It was a totally dominant performance from Leverkusen, who outperformed their 3.17 expected goals (xG), with 10 of their 25 attempts hitting the target. Schick and Maza had four shots each, with only Hofmann (five efforts) bettering that.
