Bundesliga defenses and scoring many goals. On 18 October, he was involved in an incident against Hoffenheim when he appeared to have missed the target with a header attempt off a corner. He turned away in frustration only to have his teammates come celebrate with him seconds later as the referee signaled the goal. Upon further review, the ball had gone wide of the post but ended up in the back of the net after squeezing through a hole in the side netting, unnoticed by most at the time. The "ghost goal" secured a 2–1 victory for Leverkusen and was cause for much debate after the game with Hoffenheim officials calling for a replay. Kießling shrugged off the debate five days later by scoring two convincing goals in Leverkusen's 4–0 hammering of Shakhtar Donetsk in the Champions League. On 13 April 2014, Kießling scored a header after forty seconds to put his side 1–0 up over Hertha BSC; the game would finish 2–1 in Leverkusen's favor, moving the club into fourth place. On 10 May, Leverkusen defeated Werder Bremen 2–1, securing fourth place for the club and booking a spot in the play-off round of the UEFA Champions League for the following season. Kießling finished the season with 19 goals in 43 matches. Despite finishing the Bundesliga season as the leading goalscorer for a German forward, he was left out of the Germany squad at the World Cup in Brazil. 2014–15 season In Leverkusen's first game of the 2014–15 season against SV Alemannia Waldalgesheim in the first round of the 2014–15 DFB-Pokal, Kießling scored five goals, including four in the first half, as Leverkusen won 6–0 against the Verbandsliga Südwest side. In the first leg of Leverkusen's Champions League play-off tie with Danish side F.C. Copenhagen, Kießling scored the German's opening goal of a 3–2 away win. In the first game of the Bundesliga season, he converted a Karim Bellarabi pass in the last minute of stoppage time to complete a 2–0 win over Borussia Dortmund. In the second leg of their Champions League play-off against Copenhagen, Kießling scored twice more as Leverkusen advanced to the group stages with a 7–2 aggregate victory. He scored his tenth goal of the season and earned his side a penalty in their second group match of the Champions League, a 3–1 home win over Benfica on 1 October. He finished the season with