Leverkusen languished in 12th place at this stage last campaign, but the sterling job Xabi Alonso has since done at the BayArena sees them guaranteed to sit atop the Bundesliga table at Christmas for the first time since 2009. Still, it was hard to tell them apart from in-form Bochum in the opening stages, and Josip Stanisic did brilliantly to nick the ball away from Takuma Asano and deny the Japan international the opportunity to hit the net for a sixth time this season.
That early flurry from the visitors, who had inflicted Leverkusen’s most recent defeat more than 200 days ago, was ultimately to count for nothing as Schick staged a barnstorming return for Die Werkself.
Making his first league start since October 2022, the Czech frontman first earned a penalty after he was felled in the area by Manuel Riemann, and he stepped up himself to coolly slot in from 12 yards.
And it took just a couple more minutes for him to double his tally, as Jeremie Frimpong swept a killer low ball across the face of the Bochum defence, only for Schick to slice a controlled finish into the far corner.
Leverkusen were relentless, and another for their main man was inevitable as he headed in Alejandro Grimaldo’s corner in first-half stoppage time to round off his hat-trick.
Three uninterrupted goals in a single half meant that Schick met the strict standards for a German ‘lupenreiner’ hat-trick for the second time in his career, and it looked to be a long way back for Bochum given that their opponents have won all 10 of the Bundesliga games in which they have led at the break this season. Indeed, it was one-way traffic after the restart, and the home side had no problems finding the net even after Schick was withdrawn.
In fact, his rival for the starting spot at the top of Alonso’s attack, Victor Boniface, latched onto Florian Wirtz’s through ball to smash past Riemann within mere seconds of entering the fray.
Leverkusen players were happy to settle for just the four goals as time ran out, with the result making it an entire ‘Hinrunde’ unbeaten for Alonso’s men and smashing Hamburg’s more than 40-year-old record. Leverkusen will hope that the winter break doesn’t halt any momentum, especially as some key players will be absent for the restart due to the Africa Cup of Nations.
For Bochum, it’s a third defeat by four or more goals this campaign, but they will take comfort in a six-point buffer to the Bundesliga drop zone.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Patrik Schick (Bayer Leverkusen)
