St. Pauli 1-2 Bayer Leverkusen: Poku winner lifts visitors to fourth place

Bayer Leverkusen climbed to fourth place in the Bundesliga table, after Ernest Poku secured a 2-1 victory over St. Pauli.

The substitute’s second-half strike settled the contest at Millerntor-Stadion, where Hauke Wahl cancelled out Edmond Tapsoba during the first half.

St. Pauli made the stronger start with Wahl denied on the line, but it was Leverkusen who broke the deadlock in the 25th minute.

Tapsoba was alert to turn in from close range after the hosts failed to deal with Alejandro Grimaldo’s free-kick delivery.

Nevertheless, Alexander Blessin’s side were level just seven minutes later, when Wahl hooked the ball in after Mark Flekken spilt a corner.

The visitors restored their advantage in the 58th minute when Poku, just on as a substitute, slotted home what proved to be the winner for Kasper Hjulmand’s men.

Today’s scorers!pic.twitter.com/eIKUOIDm8S

— Bayer 04 Leverkusen (@bayer04_en) September 27, 2025

Data Debrief: Tapsoba the unlikely scorer

Leverkusen extended their record-breaking streak of unbeaten away matches in the Bundesliga to 36 matches.

Having made just five attempts on goal — their fewest in a Bundesliga game all season, the visitors took the lead through an unlikely source, with Tapsoba scoring his first goal in the German top flight since finding the net against Bochum in January 2023.

Meanwhile, after losing to Stuttgart last weekend, it is back-to-back defeats for St. Pauli, who are now without a win in their last eight Bundesliga meetings with Leverkusen.