When Lukas lost the ball after he was encircled by four players in front of the Leverkusen penalty area, he got up, turned around, and started running back to his half.

He burst past the halfway line at top speed when he looked up and saw Trapp coming out of his goal to tackle Schick.

It looked like a goal for sure, but he never stopped running.

By the time the ball bounced in front of Wirtz, Lukas was right behind him. He had to decide if he would stop to block Wirtz's shot or keep running towards the goal.

He knew the best and easiest way for Wirtz to finish this move was a side-footed lob over the goalkeeper into the empty goal.

Trying to decelerate at that moment was almost impossible because of his speed — he would either clatter into Wirtz and get sent off or stop a lot farther from Wirtz's position due to his momentum and just get lobbed.

He had to think fast.

And that was what he did.

Running past Wirtz without slowing down as the Leverkusen star did exactly what Lukas had predicted — lobbing the ball over Trapp towards the empty goal.

Lukas was fortunate that it wasn't a volley with power, else he would have stood no chance whatsoever no matter how fast he had gotten. But the nature of that lob made the ball's air time a couple of seconds longer.

And after his past-military-level special training in the LTC, a couple of seconds was more than enough to cover the ground from the edge of the penalty area to the goal line as Lukas jumped, his body twisting in the air as he ballooned the ball back into play.

The ball flew into the pitch, going even past the halfway line. That was the sheer amount of power behind that clearance.

"OH MY WORD! LUKAS BRANDT WITH AN ALMOST IMPOSSIBLE GOAL-LINE CLEARANCE!" the commentator screamed while the crowd cheered in a mixture of surprise and admiration as Lukas fell.

That cheer suddenly dampened into a sense of gloom once Lukas hit the ground.

Instinctively supporting himself with his arms as he landed, Lukas's left ring and middle fingers seemed to bear the brunt of his weight as his hands were placed awkwardly while hitting the ground.

"AHHH!"

Lukas let out a sharp scream, clutching his left hand in agony. The referee waved the medic on as his teammates backed away. Dropping to a crouch, the medic carefully examined his swollen middle and ring fingers, twisted awkwardly at the joints.

"Hold still," the medic murmured, gripping Lukas's wrist firmly with one hand. With the other, he steadied the two bent fingers, gave a quick, controlled pull and push — pop, pop! — both joints clicked back into place. Lukas gritted his teeth, his head snapping back, then exhaled hard as the pain dulled.

Reaching into his kit, the medic swiftly wound layers of white tape around the injured fingers, binding them snugly together for support. He tugged at the wrap once to test it, then held Lukas's hand up for him to see.

"Stable enough. You good to finish?" he asked.

Lukas flexed his hand, clenched a fist, then nodded. The medic signaled to the referee, but protocol meant Lukas had to be led off the pitch. With his arm raised and the taped hand on show, Lukas walked off to the sideline, greeted by cheers.

The game resumed with a drop ball for Leverkusen, who were in possession before the whistle, while Lukas was waved by Toppmöller to come closer.

"How's it? Does it hurt a lot?" Toppmöller asked once Lukas was beside him.

"Just a bit. It won't affect my game," he replied.

"That's good," Toppmöller responded as he proceeded to give Lukas some tactical adjustments to relay to the team once he got back on.

Lukas was waved back on a few seconds later and had to slot directly into his defense as Leverkusen mounted another attack.

Under Xabi Alonso, Bayer Leverkusen had never played like a team that was content with a draw. It didn't matter who they were or where they played, they pushed for the win by any means necessary.

It worked spectacularly last season as they were unbeaten in all competitions except the Europa League final, which was their only loss that season.

But so far this season, it had produced mixed results — at least compared to the previous season's.

This game, too, was about to be included in the section titled "mixed results."

As the clock ran down, Leverkusen pushed harder and further up the pitch.

They were relentless.

Trapp had to pull out his inner Buffon with four saves in the final 10 minutes of the game, including a double save where a shot from Wirtz outside the box was parried into Schick's path, before Schick's attempt was also blocked with Trapp's wide-spread legs.

Moans and groans could be heard around the stadium when the board went up with five minutes of added time — mostly due to Lukas's treatment.

The home fans were more than willing to take a 3-3 draw against the reigning champions.

Toppmöller too was praying for the final whistle. One point out of a possible six could be unideal for a team competing for a Champions League spot, but if that was in the two hardest games his team would play that season, it could be seen as a major success. Especially if their goal difference only dropped by one after those two games.

"It could be way worse," Toppmöller thought. "We could have lost 4-0 to Bayern and then 3-0 to Leverkusen. Please hang in there guys," he thought before walking around the technical area screaming for his players to remain compact and keep their heads in the game.

Lukas was just in front of his team's penalty area when the ball went out for a Leverkusen throw-in just beside the corner flag.

Grimaldo rushed and picked up the ball, cleaning it with his shirt before running forward and launching the ball into the box.

For some reason, Jonathan Tah, Leverkusen's central defender, was in Eintracht's box jumping to attack Grimaldo's cross together with Boniface, who had come on for Schick about ten minutes ago, while Ekitike and Koch marked each of them respectively.

Tah got a flick on the ball which caught Trapp off guard.

The Eintracht Frankfurt captain reacted late, diving to his left at full stretch as Toppmöller had his hands on his head. It was starting to look like a repeat of the game against Bayern Munich just last week — going down, fighting back level, and then losing the lead during stoppage time.

But it would seem the goddess of luck had other plans that evening.

Trapp's gloves grazed the ball ever so slightly, but that was enough to change the ball's direction ever so slightly as the ball hit the inside of the left post and rolled across the goal line.

Both Koch and Boniface went for the ball, but it was the former who thumped it out of the penalty area and back into play.

The referee checked his watch both to see if the ball had crossed the line and to see how much additional time was left on the clock before confirming that the line was not crossed.

However, the ball was still in play.

For a brief moment, it looked like the Leverkusen players at the back — all in Eintracht's half — switched off, thinking the ball had crossed the line.

"MARIOOO!!" Aleix Garcia screamed at the top of his lungs at Hermoso, the last man in the Leverkusen team who was standing just in front of the center circle inside Eintracht's half as the ball bounced a couple of meters in front of him.

The Spaniard was staring at the referee, waiting for the confirmation of the goal, completely unaware of his position as his team's last man and the location of the ball.

As his fellow countryman's scream brought him back to his senses, he looked at the ball bounce, and saw a figure closing in behind it, and panicked.

Lukas was there, his eyes glued to the ball as it bounced. He had started his run walking away from his penalty area when Trapp got that all-important touch to stop Tah's header, and was in full sprint immediately after the ball met Koch's legs. He didn't even spare a glance at the referee while a few players around him looked to see what the verdict from the goal-line technology would be.

Garcia was the first to actually notice Lukas running through the midfield. That was when he turned and screamed at Hermoso.

Hermoso ran forward and swung his foot at the ball, but missed.

Lukas had already nudged the ball to the left with his head as the ball came up from the bounce while Hermoso's boot grazed his ear.

But he just kept running.

The Spanish international threw his hands around Lukas and tried to drag him back, but Lukas shrugged off his hands, swatting the defender, who fell face-first on the ground.

Then he turned on the after-burners.

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