Heidenheim vs Bayer 04 Leverkusen: Preview, predictions, team news as Nathan Tella eyes more gametime

Bayer 04 Leverkusen have just one win from their last five games across all comepetitions and Nathan Tella’s return is a huge boost for the German side, Afrik Foot reports.

Heidenheim welcome Bayer Leverkusen to the Voith Arena in the 27th round of the 2025/2026 Bundesliga season, with the two clubs sitting at opposite ends of the league table.

Die Werkself are fresh off a defeat to Arsenal in the UEFA Champions League round of 16 at the Emirates Stadium in London.

Match Preview: Heidenheim vs Bayer Leverkusen

Heidenheim are enduring the most difficult period since their arrival in the Bundesliga, and their third season in the top flight is threatening to be their last.

With just 14 points from 26 games, Frank Schmidt’s side sit bottom of the table and are staring at relegation with little sign of a reprieve.

The numbers are damning across the board: 24 goals scored against 58 conceded, a defensive record that works out at more than two goals given away per game.

Heidenheim have won just one of their last ten Bundesliga matches at the Voith-Arena, and have conceded in every single one of those games.

A 4-2 defeat to Hoffenheim laid the problems bare once more, though a narrow 1-0 loss to Eintracht Frankfurt at least showed the team can still compete for stretches before the cracks appear.

Ten of their last 13 home games have produced more than 2.5 goals, which points firmly towards an open and high-scoring evening for the visitors.

Bayer Leverkusen arrive in a different kind of difficulty. Kasper Hjulmand’s side have gone four games without a win, including an elimination at the hands of Arsenal in the Champions League and a draw against Bayern Munich in the Bundesliga.

Leverkusen sit sixth in the Bundesliga, just six points behind the Champions League qualification places, and with the DFB-Pokal still alive, there is plenty to play for between now and the end of the season.

A trip to face the league’s bottom side is precisely the kind of fixture Hjulmand’s squad will view as a must-win, and any slip-up here would carry real consequences in a tight race for European football.

Head to Head: Heidenheim vs Bayer Leverkusen

Leverkusen have won five of the last six meetings between the sides, with Heidenheim claiming the only exception, and no draws have been recorded across that run.

The average of 4.17 goals per game in those encounters reflects the pattern of one-sided contests, with five of the six matches producing more than 2.5 goals, a figure that aligns neatly with the tendency of both clubs this season.

In the reverse fixture in November 2025, Leverkusen won 1-0 in a match whose scoreline did not accurately reflect the result.

The visitors dominated possession, created chances consistently and could easily have won by a larger margin, with the result feeling more like a near-miss than a closely contested affair.

Team News

Heidenheim

Schmidt faces a depleted squad at the worst possible time, with the injury list hitting precisely the areas that were already causing the most damage.

Christian Conteh, Nick Rothweiler, Leonidas Stergiou and Tim Siersleben are all ruled out, while Leart Paqarada is a long-term absentee after suffering cruciate ligament damage.

The absences are heavily concentrated in defence, leaving an already fragile backline even more exposed against one of the Bundesliga’s most dangerous attacks.

Marvin Pieringer leads the line as the club’s top scorer with five Bundesliga goals this season, and will carry the attacking burden once again alongside Eren Dinkci.

Predicted Heidenheim XI (4-3-3): Diant Ramaj; Marnon Thomas Busch, Benedikt Gimber, Patrick Mainka, Hennes Behrens; Jan Schöppner, Niklas Dorsch, Luca Kerber; Eren Dinkci, Arijon Ibrahimovic, Budu Zivzivadze.

Bayer Leverkusen

Leverkusen also travel with notable absentees, though the depth of their squad limits the impact considerably.

Edmond Tapsoba serves a suspension and misses the match, while Mark Flekken, Arthur, Lucas Vázquez, Loïc Badé and Eliesse Ben Seghir are all sidelined through injury.

Ben Seghir has returned to training in recent days but is unlikely to start, while Alejandro Grimaldo returns from suspension to reclaim his place on the left flank, a significant boost given his importance to how Leverkusen build and attack.

Nathan Tella, the Super Eagles winger, will be hoping to take advantage of the depleted forward options and push for more minutes in what could be a comfortable evening for the visitors.

Predicted Bayer Leverkusen XI (3-4-3): Janis Blaswich; Robert Andrich, Jarrell Quansah, Tim Oermann; Montrell Culbreath, Ezequiel Fernandez, Aleix García, Alejandro Grimaldo; Ibrahim Maza, Malik Tillman, Patrick Schick.

The Managers

Frank Schmidt reaches 19 years in charge of Heidenheim in 2026, a figure that is almost unthinkable in the modern game and a testament to the trust the club places in him as both a symbol and an architect of everything they have built.

He’s overseen 597 matches in his time at the club, winning 243, drawing 150 and losing 204 games.

A former player at the club, Schmidt was the driving force behind the rise from the lower divisions all the way to the Bundesliga, and the board’s continued backing even in the face of likely relegation reflects how deeply his legacy is embedded at the Voith-Arena.

The task now is less about miraculous survival and more about keeping the group focused, maintaining the identity of the project and ensuring the club is well-positioned to compete again should they drop down a level.

Kasper Hjulmand stepped into the Leverkusen dugout following Xabi Alonso’s departure, bringing with him the experience of managing the Danish national team at the highest international level.

The Dane has retained the three-at-the-back structure that Alonso established and maintained a collective coherence that allows the club to compete across multiple competitions simultaneously.

The Champions League exit to Arsenal will sting, but Hjulmand has the tools and the mentality within his squad to refocus quickly, and fixtures like this one are where that refocus needs to manifest into points.

Tactical Preview

Both sides share the same 3-4-3 base formation on paper, but the similarity ends there.

Heidenheim will look to sit deep and compact, ceding possession and attempting to frustrate Leverkusen for as long as possible while waiting for mistakes or set-piece opportunities to create any kind of threat at the other end.

Schmidt’s side have shown they can hold out in patches, as the 1-0 defeat to Eintracht Frankfurt illustrated, but sustaining that defensive discipline for 90 minutes against higher-quality opponents has consistently proved beyond them this season.

Leverkusen are expected to control the game from the first whistle, using Grimaldo’s attacking runs down the left.

The most vulnerable area for Heidenheim is likely to be in transition, where their wing-backs, already asked to cover enormous ground, will struggle to track the movement of Leverkusen’s wide attackers consistently.

Barring a significant drop in performance from the visitors, the expectation is a controlled Leverkusen win built on sustained pressure and progressive wear on a Heidenheim defence that has not kept a clean sheet in the Bundesliga this season.