Mr Stoppage Time keeps Leverkusen in title picture and revives license to thrill | Andy Brassell

They did little wrong, but fortune refused to shine on them. Lukas Hradecky spread himself with authority, denying Ermedin Demirovic’s finish, but his block cannoned straight into the onrushing Granit Xhaka and the ball nestled in the net in front of the Cannstatter Kurve. Bayer Leverkusen have been bowed far more often than is habitual in the last few weeks, and now they looked to be down and out. It was one of those actions, one of those days, one of those runs, that said it’s just not your season.

In fact, it wasn’t even the first time they’d appeared to be cooked on Sunday evening. That was when Stuttgart’s Nick Woltemade, the throwback striker who has been one of the season’s low-key revelations, slotted a tidy finish past Hradecky for 2-0 less than three minutes into the second half. We have seen Leverkusen react what feels like a hundred times from this – just not in the last week and a half.

Then came the real throwback. Xhaka’s unfortunate own goal made it 3-1 before Piero Hincapié got the score back to 3-2. With a few minutes left, Stuttgart’s Angelo Stiller sliced Victor Boniface’s dangerous delivery into his own net to draw the visitors level. As we ticked into the fourth of five scheduled minutes of stoppage time Jeremie Frimpong had one last go at Chris Führich, swept past him on the outside and stood the cross up for – who else? – Mr Stoppage Time himself, Patrik Schick, to stoop and glance his header from the six-yard line into the far corner of Alexander Nübel’s goal. They had had more than their share of these moments before but the way in which they roared, in which Schick jumped into the air and into Xabi Alonso’s arms as the coach ran on to the pitch, the metaphorical neat side-parting slipping from position as it had when Real Madrid won La Décima in Lisbon nearly 11 years before, spoke of this being a moment that wasn’t just wanted, but needed.

There was even still time for Boniface to smash a possible clincher against Nübel’s crossbar but that almost would have detracted from the legend, and besides referee Daniel Siebert blew his whistle seconds later. It was done, but the Bundesliga title race, by a whisker, was not. There was exhilaration and, in no small part, relief. Relief not just that Leverkusen have preserved a fighting chance of hunting Bayern down at the top, but relief that their identity forged over the last couple of years as salvagers of lost causes, of thrillers of neutrals, remains intact.

That week of three successive defeats, and the doubts that followed, were never going to destroy what Leverkusen built under Alonso. Yet for the first time since his October 2022 arrival, belief was shaken. Not just because of his first defeats to his former club, who had begun to find Leverkusen their most infuriating irritant since Jürgen Klopp-era Borussia Dortmund, but because of their manner. The first leg of the Champions League tie in Munich had been the worst Leverkusen performance in recent memory, imperfectly planned by Alonso and clumsily executed by his players, with everything that could go wrong going wrong.

After the league defeat by Werder Bremen the return leg was simply sad. Shorn of the injured Florian Wirtz, Leverkusen were game but never really in it, picked off by a textbook Bayern away performance – but the sort of away performance they had never been close to mustering against the champions in recent times, be it the thrashing they took last year at BayArena on their way to losing the title or the hammering they took on their last Bundesliga visit in February, when they improbably snuck back south with a point in tow.

Stuttgart believed they were on their way to victory when they took a 3-1 lead against Leverkusen. Photograph: Sebastian Widmann/Bundesliga Collection/Getty Images

If there was a feeling that this tie represented a slink back towards the status quo after the last season and a half, that was largely external – except there were signs that for the first time, those inside the changing room had some doubts. Alonso had publicly criticised his own tactics and choices for the home defeat by Bremen, which had turned out to be a huge missed opportunity with Bayern slipping up at home to Bochum. So when Stuttgart – a very worthy opponent of late whose ability to compete with Leverkusen has conjured some excellent games – got on top of them on Sunday, it felt like the final chance was passing them by, after Bayern only managed a draw on Saturday at Union Berlin.

“They won’t give us many chances,” underlined Robert Andrich, the team’s spokesman in good moments and bad, after the game. “Last week we already messed it up. So this is a really good thing.” Nobody is saying that Bayern can feel Leverkusen breath on their necks just yet, but the narrowing of the gap at the top to six points leaves at least a frisson of suspense. And just like those recent defeats it was about the manner. “You could see from the celebrations just how important the win, perhaps, could be,” continued Andrich. It was the recovery of that last-season feeling, that any situation could be rescued, that it’s never over until Leverkusen say it is, that was so precious.

Stuttgart have their own ambitions to recover, with a vital visit to Eintracht Frankfurt to come after the international break having fallen eight points behind the Champions League pace followed by a Pokal semi-final with Leipzig four days later. “We have to dig a little deeper,” said Sebastian Hoeness, while defending his players. He can take something at least from the team that vanquished his on Sunday. That it’s not over until it’s over.

Talking points

It still feels as if it will take an implosion from Bayern to truly reignite the race on a meaningful level, but they have now taken one point from the last two (very winnable) games, and it was a huge error by Jonas Urbig that presented former Bayern academy player Benedict Hollerbach with a late equaliser for Union. “A few players were involved in that goal,” said Max Eberl, playing down the young goalkeeper’s first major clanger. With two huge Champions League games with Inter on the horizon, a more incisive team performance would have been welcome.

Benedict Hollerbach (centre) celebrates with Union Berlin’s mascot, Keule. Photograph: Tobias Schwarz/AFP/Getty Images

Still, they’re not Dortmund, the Champions League quarter-finalists whose only chance of appearing in next season’s edition would appear to be winning this season’s competition after a fourth Bundesliga defeat in six under Niko Kovac on Saturday at Leipzig. “I have to be clear,” said the coach, “it’s a catastrophe.” It was not their worst performance of late but it was clumsy at both ends. Major decisions must now be made and Bild’s Michael Makus even suggested that Hans-Joachim Watzke might have to – Karl-Heinz Rummenigge style – postpone his retirement “if he doesn’t want his life’s work to go to the dogs at record speed”.

Leipzig’s win, inspired by an excellent Loïs Openda, put them back into the top four mix, a race tightened by 10-man Mainz’s creditable draw with Freiburg, who are sixth on level points with Marco Rose’s team. Mainz stay third.

This weekend also sadly marked the passing of one of the legends of the women’s game, Doris Fitschen, at 56 after a long illness. Fitschen had been part of five Euro-winning squads with Germany before taking a management role with the DFB in retirement.