1. FC Heidenheim vs. Bayer 04 Leverkusen preview: Champions League chasers face cellar-dwellers

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·20 Maret 2026

1. FC Heidenheim vs. Bayer 04 Leverkusen preview: Champions League chasers face cellar-dwellers

Following their exit from Champions League at the hands of Arsenal, Bayer Leverkusen will hope to return to winning ways away at Heidenheim. The narrow victory in the rescheduled fixture against HSV is the only time Die Werkself picked three points from their last five Bundesliga encounters.

Meanwhile, Heidenheim have only picked up three points in 13 games since their back-to-back wins over Union Berlin and Freiburg. Frank Schmidt’s side are already ten points behind the relegation playoff spot.

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Heidenheim suffered their heaviest Bundesliga defeat in the reverse fixture at the BayArena. Leverkusen’s six goals were scored before the hour-mark as they responded well following a first league defeat under Kasper Hjulmand’s away at Bayern Munich.

Following last week’s rollercoaster draw with Vincent Kompany’s troops in the reverse fixture, Leverkusen will face Bayern once again in the semi-final of the DFB-Pokal next month. The cup gives one last chance for the club to end the season with a silverware, but the race for a Champions League qualification will also have equal significance.

The sixth-placed team will play against Borussia Dortmund, RB Leipzig, and VfB Stuttgart in the last two months of the season. With LaLiga extending its lead over Bundesliga in the UEFA coefficient, only four teams will most likely represent Germany in the Champions League next season.

As for the visitors, there were signs that they had already given up in the relegation battle. After a surprising debut campaign, Heidenheim went through a tricky relegation playoff tie against Elversberg to maintain their Bundesliga status.

They were only a single point shy of that place after the final matchday of 2025, but that deficit is now stretched to double digits. Only Ligue 1’s Metz collected fewer points than Heidenheim from 96 clubs in European top-five leagues.

Heidenheim won the first head-to-head fixture when they met in the DFB-Pokal back in the 2018-19 campaign. However, Leverkusen won each of the five Bundesliga encounters against Heidenheim with a cumulative scoreline of 18-4.

Team News

Janis Blaswich was Leverkusen's star performer in midweek at the Emirates Stadium, but Mark Flekken could return between the sticks following a long injury layoff. Edmond Tapsoba’s absence due to suspension could also lead to Tim Oermann’s starting debut.

Alejandro Grimaldo’s return from suspension would strength the side in the left wing. Hjulmand might opt for more rotation as he did for last week’s draw against the league leaders.

Bayern loanee Arijon Ibrahimovic will miss the game after suffering an injury in Heidenheim’s narrow defeat to Eintracht Frankfurt. If Christian Conteh will not return from his own injury, his brother Sirlord should come in to play on the left wing.