Patrik Schick firing Bayer Leverkusen ahead in UEFA Champions League race
If Bayer Leverkusen are playing UEFA Champions League football next season, they will owe a big debt of thanks to the sizzling late-season form of striker Patrik Schick.
The Czechia forward no doubt has the FIFA World Cup on his mind after playing a central role in helping his country reach this summer’s global showpiece in Canada, Mexico and the United States. He looks to be going there as one of the planet’s in-form forwards.
He has scored nine times in his last six matches, helping Leverkusen claim 13 points from a possible 18 to move into fourth place and the Bundesliga’s last Champions League-qualifying spot with two matches left this season.
Watch: Schick nets a hat-trick vs. Leipzig
Schick’s rash of form since Matchday 27 means he has scored almost twice as many league goals as any other player: Heidenheim’s Budu Zivzivadze is closest with five while the league’s leading scorer, Bayern Munich’s Harry Kane, has found the net on just three occasions in that time.
"He looks very fresh and alert,” said Leverkusen coach Kasper Hjulmand following Schick’s hat-trick in the 4-1 defeat of RB Leipzig on Matchday 32 that leaves Die Werkself’s top-four hopes in their own hands. “His current form is impressive and he’s also very important for the team as a leader on the pitch and in the dressing room."
Schick’s place in the squad was reinforced when he signed a contract extension last summer through to 2030, quite the vote of confidence for a striker who turned 30 in January this year.
But with a summer transfer market heavily weighted in favour of youth – eight players under 24 were brought in – the experience of the former Sparta Prague, Bohemians, Sampdoria, Roma and Leipzig man has been invaluable.
In the heat of battle, Schick has kept his cool, been quick to provide his young team with a platform, and used his head. Almost literally. He has tucked away all four penalties he has taken this season, no other Bundesliga player can match his four goals scored in the opening 15 minutes of games, and only Borussia Mönchengladbach’s Haris Tabaković has more headed goals in the German top flight this term.
He increased his stature among his peers still further on Matchday 28 when his strike in the ding-dong 6-3 win over Wolfsburg made him the first Czech to score a century of goals in Europe’s top five leagues.
Watch: Schick scores in comeback win over Wolfsburg
“It’s a nice number,” said Schick after reaching the milestone. “When I was young, I never would have thought that I would achieve so much in football – 16 goals in Serie A and now 84 in the Bundesliga. Without injuries, I would have been able to achieve it sooner. But of course I’m very happy that I’ve reached this number. Hopefully I’ll now score a few more goals.”
That goal is just one of a flurry in the Rückrunde – only Kane (13) has scored more than Schick (10) – which means Leverkusen now have Europe’s top table again in their sights after having looked all but certain to miss out following a five-game winless stretch between Matchdays 23 and 27.
Now locked on 53 points with VfB Stuttgart and Hoffenheim, and ahead of their rivals on goal difference - +23 to +20 and +16 respectively – Leverkusen now go into their remaining two matches of the campaign, at Stuttgart and then at home to Hamburg, with confidence.
“If we play like that next week in Stuttgart and then against Hamburg, I’m certain we’ll reach the Champions League,” said Schick after Matchday 32, though he warned against complacency in a side that has dropped nine points from winning positions over the last eight league games.
“We’re on the right track now, but we know that we have let slip so many easy points this season. That means we now, unfortunately, have to fight to the last game. It’s all to play for.”
If Schick, who also has three assists, were to maintain his streak and get closer to his 2024/25 tally of 21 league goals – or in Leverkusen fans’ wildest dreams surpass his career-best of 24 from the 2021/22 campaign – that fight will surely not involve quite so much nail biting.
