Augsburg 3 - 3 Bayer Leverkusen: Bayer Leverkusen fight back to earn a point in six-goal thriller at Augsburg

Posted Sunday, March 06, 2016 by PA

Bayer Leverkusen came from three goals behind to grab a 3-3 draw at Augsburg and keep their fading hopes alive of qualifying for Europe next season.

Ja-Cheol Koo scored a hat-trick for the Bavarians, but they threw away the points as Karim Bellarabi and then a Paul Verhaegh own goal reduced the arrears.

Jeffrey Gouweleeuw gave away a penalty in stoppage time, earning a red card, before Hakan Calhanoglu converted to salvage a draw for Leverkusen.

Koo put Augsburg in front in the fifth minute when he was in the right place at the right time to turn the ball in after Alexander Esswein's deflected effort came back off the crossbar.

Bayer tried to respond and Admir Mehmedi hit the post in the 21st minute before Bellarabi tested Marwin Hitz.

Slightly against the run of play, Augsburg doubled their lead just before half-time, and it was a similar goal to their first with Alfred Finnbogason's angled shot rebounding off the right-hand post out to Koo, who was again in the right place to turn the ball in.

Koo added a third in the 57th minute when he swept in Finnbogason's chested touch down and left Bernd Leno no chance with his volley.

Bellarabi's angled shot did not seem to be too dangerous, but Hitz somehow managed to let the ball squirm under him as Leverkusen got a foothold in the game.

Augsburg helped them get a second with 10 minutes remaining when Verhaegh turned a corner into his own goal.

And another favour, this time from Gouweleeuw - who saved a shot with his hands on the line - allowed Calhanoglu to grab Leverkusen an unlikely point with the last kick of the game.