Leverkusen misses UCL spot after final-day draw
Bayer Leverkusen missed out on UEFA Champions League qualification after it was held to a 1-1 draw by Hamburg.
Kasper Hjulmand's side needed to win to stand any chance of usurping Stuttgart and Hoffenheim on the final day of the Bundesliga season, but had to settle for a point at BayArena.
The hosts were awarded a penalty midway through the first half when Patrik Schick was fouled by Jordan Torunarigha, but the forward was denied from the spot by Sander Tangvik.
However, it was the visitors who broke the deadlock just after the hour mark, as Fabio Vieira finished superbly from just outside the penalty area.
Leverkusen levelled 12 minutes from time, with Jarell Quansah's header from an Aleix Garcia free-kick finding the net via a huge deflection off Nicolai Remberg.
Alex Grimaldo tested Tangvik with a free-kick deep into stoppage-time, but the hosts must settle for a place in next season's UEFA Europa League.
A win would not have been enough anyway, with Stuttgart claiming fourth place after a 2-2 draw with Eintracht Frankfurt, while Hoffenheim missed the chance to leapfrog it after a 4-0 loss to Borussia Moenchengladbach.
As for Hamburg, their run of games without a clean sheet extended to 14 – the current joint-longest run with Koln, which was thumped 5-1 by champion Bayern Munich in its final match of the season.
