Hoffenheim 3-0 Bayer Leverkusen: Kramaric shines as Leverkusen's title challenge takes a hit

Bayer Leverkusen squandered the chance to close the gap to the top of the Bundesliga, losing 3-0 away at Hoffenheim.

Andrej Kramaric was the star of the show at the SNP Arena with a goal and an assist, while Hoffenheim's other goals came from Alexander Prass and Max Moerstedt. Prass was sent off in the closing stages of the match.

As early as the 5th minute, Patrik Schick headed narrowly wide from an Aleix Garcia corner, and shortly afterwards Nathan Tella failed to hit the target after the Czech striker had knocked the ball down for him.

Hoffenheim's first dangerous attack came in the 12th minute, when goalkeeper Mark Flekken saved two powerful right-footed efforts from Fisnik Asllani. At the other end, Schick continued to waste his chances, firing over the bar from an Ibrahim Maza pass.

The deadlock held until the 76th minute, when Leverkusen captain Edmond Tapsoba brought down Asllani in the box and the referee pointed to the spot. Kramaric made no mistake, beating Flekken with a strike down the middle to put his side ahead.

As Leverkusen pushed for an equaliser, goalkeeper Oliver Baumann parried a fierce shot from Robert Andrich, but the visitors' efforts came to nothing. Hoffenheim then extended their lead in a breathless finale.

In the 89th minute, Prass exchanged passes with Kramaric and left Flekken helpless with a superb strike from outside the box to make it 2-0. However, the Austrian then picked up a second yellow card for over-celebrating, reducing his side to 10 men.

Undeterred by the numerical disadvantage, the hosts kept pushing and made it 3-0 in the 90+6th minute on a quick counter-attack, when Moerstedt tucked home the rebound after Kramaric's shot had cannoned off the crossbar.

Kramaric scores Hoffenheim's 1,000th goal

With this emphatic victory, Christian Ilzer's Hoffenheim recorded a three-match winning run in all competitions for the second time under the Austrian coach. The team's longest streak under Ilzer was a five-match winning run in January.

The win was also Hoffenheim's biggest league victory since their 3-0 win over Freiburg in February.

The architect of the victory, Kramaric scored Hoffenheim's 1,000th goal in Bundesliga history and also passed a significant personal milestone. The Croatian has now reached 201 goal involvements (141 goals, 60 assists) in his Bundesliga career. Since the 2004-05 season, only Robert Lewandowski (367), Thomas Müller (323) and Marco Reus (251) have exceeded that figure in the league, while Mario Gomez is level with him on 201.

The experienced forward also maintained his flawless record from the spot, converting his 18th consecutive penalty in the Bundesliga. The only longer streak in the league's history belongs to Bayern Munich's Harry Kane, with 24 penalties.