page_title: Stefan Kießling
section_title: 2013–14 season
hierarchical_section_title: Stefan Kießling / Club career / Bayer 04 Leverkusen / 2013–14 season
caption_attribution_description: English: Stefan Kießling
context_page_description: Stefan Kießling is a German former footballer who played as a striker for Bayer Leverkusen. Born in Lichtenfels, West Germany, Kießling began playing football at a young age in the youth setup at 1. FC Eintracht Bamberg before moving to the 1. FC Nürnberg academy in 2001. He made his professional debut for Nürnberg as a 19-year-old in 2003 before being sold to Bayer Leverkusen in the summer of 2006. He stayed at Leverkusen for 12 seasons.
  A German international since 2007, Kießling earned six caps, failing to score a goal at the senior level. He represented Germany at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, featuring in two matches for the eventual third-place side.
context_section_description: On 26 July 2013, Kießling signed a contract extension with Leverkusen, committing himself to the club until 2017. His first goals of the 2013–14 season came in the first round of the DFB-Pokal on 3 August 2013, scoring in both halves as Leverkusen defeated Regionalliga side SV Lippstadt 08 6–1. In the first match of the Bundesliga campaign, Kießling scored his side's opener in a 3–1 defeat of Freiburg. On 14 September, he scored twice in the second half to give Leverkusen a 3–1 win over 10-man Wolfsburg. With his strong start to the season along with Sidney Sam and Son Heung-min, the trio were compared to the Stuttgart's Magic Triangle of the mid-1990s, consisting of players Krasimir Balakov, Fredi Bobic and Giovane Élber, who were known for terrorizing 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.
caption: Kießling during a UEFA Champions League match against Zenit Saint Petersburg (2014)
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