Hoffenheim 3-0 Bayer Leverkusen: Kramaric stars in eventful win as Martinez's men falter

Bayer Leverkusen missed a chance to close the gap at the top of the Bundesliga table, as they fell to a 3-0 defeat at Hoffenheim on Sunday. 

Andrej Kramaric starred at SNP Arena with a goal and an assist, and Alexander Prass and Max Moerstedt also got on the scoresheet, though Prass was sent off in the dying minutes. 

Patrik Schick nodded wide just five minutes in, following Aleix Garcia's corner, while Nathan Tella failed to guide the Czech striker's headed pass on target moments later. 

Hoffenheim's first opportunity arrived in the 12th minute, when Fisnik Asslani saw two right-footed drives parried by a diving Mark Flekken, while Schick continued to spurn chances at the other end, firing high off Ibrahim Maza's set-up. 

There was little to separate the two sides until the 76th minute, when Leverkusen captain Edmond Tapsoba dragged down Asslani inside the box, with Kramaric making no mistake from 12 yards out, firing down the middle to beat Flekken. 

Robert Andrich saw a powerful strike parried by Oliver Baumann as Carles Martinez's side pushed for a response, ultimately to no avail as a frenetic final few minutes saw Hoffenheim add some gloss to the scoreline. 

Prass combined with Kramaric to drill in a superb high strike from 18 yards out in the 89th minute, leaving Flekken with no chance, though the Austrian was soon given his marching orders after being shown a second yellow card for his excessive celebration. 

The one-man disadvantage did not deter the hosts, who added a third in the sixth minute of stoppage time after Kramaric's shot was parried onto the crossbar, with Moerstedt poking home to cap off a fast break in the following move. 

Kramaric brings up Hoffenheim's 1,000th 

Christian Ilzer will have plenty to be pleased about following Sunday's emphatic victory, which saw Hoffenheim record three consecutive wins across all competitions for just the second time under the Austrian. Their only longer winning run during his tenure came in January, when they secured five wins on the spin. 

It was also Hoffenheim's biggest Bundesliga victory since beating Freiburg 3-0 in February, with their only bigger league success under Ilzer coming in a 5-1 thrashing of Borussia Monchengladbach in January. 

Kramaric was at the heart of the triumph, scoring Hoffenheim's 1,000th Bundesliga goal while also reaching a significant individual milestone. 

The veteran Croatian now boasts 201 direct goal involvements in the competition (141 goals, 60 assists). Since 2004-05, only Robert Lewandowski (367), Thomas Muller (323) and Marco Reus (251) have registered more, with Mario Gomez also on 201. 

Kramaric also extended his remarkable record from the spot, converting his 18th consecutive Bundesliga penalty. Only Bayern's Harry Kane has enjoyed a longer such streak in the competition, having scored 24 successive penalties for Bayern Munich between 2023 and 2026. 

In all, the hosts were no match for Leverkusen, producing 3.46 expected goals (xG) to the Werkself's meagre 0.62 xG.