Hofmann after Leverkusen's dramatic late win: "I'm still experiencing heart palpitations."
Bayer 04 Leverkusen attacker Jonas Hofmann had a little difficulty calming down during his post-match interview after his side snatched a dramatic late-winner against Augsburg on Saturday afternoon.
League leaders Bayer 04 Leverkusen continued to prove that they are a Championship-worthy side with a narrow win over FC Augsburg on Saturday afternoon. Despite the fact that they had exhibited late dominance over their guests, Leverkusen's final match of the 2023/24 "Hin-runde" seemed destined to end in a 0-0 draw until Florian Wirtz, Alejandro Grimaldo, and Exequiel Palacios combined to snatch a late winner 70 seconds from the end of second half stoppage time.
Werkself trainer Xabi Alonso labelled the victory "totally deserved and earned" at his post-match presser. Bayer sporting director Simon Rolfes gleefully noted that "wins like this are the best" in his post-match interview, also praising the team for maintaining "the belief that they could score until the very end". Star summer acquisition Jonas Hofmann, though not directly involved in the goal, couldn't contain himself during his own turn in front of the Sky mics.
"I'm still experiencing heart palpitations," Hofmann told his interviewer, "because these are the moments when one's adrenaline is through the roof. I'm still all pumped up. These are moments of happiness that one rarely experiences. Moments like this."
"The way we ran to the [visiting] fans afterwards," Hofmann continued in a semi-broken stream-of-consciousness, "You look at the faces of the others. When you look at them later, everyone is probably wondering how they could make faces like that. It's absolutely awesome."
Leverkusen's win enabled them to comfortably cement the coveted German title of "Herbstmeister". The "Herbstmeister" ("autumn champion") refers to the top tier side at the top of the table when the half-way mark of the season is reached. As was also the case in some recent years due to the global pandemic and the Winter World Cup, the "autumn champion" had to wait until January to be crowned this year.
Bayer remain ahead of Bayern by four points.