Bundesliga champions Bayer Leverkusen suffered their first Bundesliga defeat since May 2023 as a 3-2 loss at home to RB Leipzig on Saturday snapped their 35-match unbeaten run in the top flight.
In a volatile match which saw
visiting coach Marco Rose sent to the stands in the first half, Leverkusen
jumped out to a 2-0 lead thanks to goals from Jeremie Frimpong and Alex
Grimaldo.
But Kevin Kampl scored for
Leipzig against the run of play just before half-time and Lois Openda levelled
things up early in the second period.
Openda scored again with 10
minutes remaining to secure victory for Leipzig against last season’s unbeaten
league and cup winners.
“We had the chance to finish
the game, but the goals we conceded were far too easy,” said Leverkusen captain
Jonathan Tah.
“We defend as a team, but we fell asleep a few
times and of course we’re going to be punished.”
The loss for Leverkusen ended a
run of 43 domestic matches without defeat, a run spanning 463 days.
Xabi Alonso’s side, who have
scored 17 goals in the 88th minute or later this year, pushed to keep their
record alive, but could not find an equaliser this time.
“We knew it was going to be
very hard to play here, Leverkusen play lethal football. We wanted to be
courageous and get on the front foot,” said Kampl.
“We know we’ve also got quality
up front. We were ice-cold today.”
Rose was sent to the stands
after he was yellow-carded twice in quick succession in the first half for
touchline outbursts after a foul on his player.
The Leipzig coach appeared to
still be seething after Leverkusen striker Victor Boniface caught the head of
Amadou Haidara while attempting a bicycle kick. He was upset Boniface escaped
with a booking as Haidara needed to be replaced.
Dortmund held at Bremen
Earlier on Saturday, a toothless
and ill-disciplined Borussia Dortmund were held to a 0-0 draw at Werder Bremen.
Dortmund dominated possession
but failed to break through and played the final 17 minutes a man down after
centre-back Nico Schlotterbeck was sent off.
They came into the game with
Maximilian Beier as their one recognised striker, having sent Sebastien Haller
out on loan to La Liga side Leganes late on Friday.
Summer signing Serhou Guirassy,
brought in to replace Niclas Fuellkrug after the Germany striker left for West
Ham, is still weeks away from a return from a knee injury.
Schlotterbeck picked up a
second yellow for a challenge on Justin Njinmah, reducing his side to 10 men.
“Everything isn’t exactly great
yet,” said Dortmund midfielder Pascal Gross. “The coach prepared us well but we
need to do better at implementing it”.
Last season’s surprise
runners-up Stuttgart again gave away points from a winning position, drawing
3-3 with Mainz after conceding an equaliser in stoppage time.
Strikes from Enzo Millot and
Jamie Leweling inside the opening 15 minutes put Stuttgart in control.
The hosts however let Mainz
back into the match when Millot gave away a clumsy penalty late in the first
half which was converted by Nadiem Amiri.
Jonathan Burkardt, who won the
penalty, headed Mainz level after 62 minutes.
Stuttgart — who led in their
Bundesliga opener and in the Super Cup against Leverkusen before losing both —
led again when Fabian Rieder scored a stunning free-kick with two minutes
remaining.
Mainz’s Maxim Leitsch scored in
the fourth minute of added time to snatch a point for the visitors.
“We actually played a pretty
good game, but we undid it by making simple mistakes,” Stuttgart’s Angelo
Stiller told Sky.
Eintracht Frankfurt won their
opening home game 3-1 against Hoffenheim.
Frankfurt forward Hugo Ekitike
again impressed in the win, scoring the opener and laying on a perfect pass for
Hugo Larsson’s second.
Hoffenheim’s Andrej Kramaric,
who scored a hat-trick in last week’s season opener, pulled one back for the
visitors early in the second half but Egypt winger Omar Marmoush added another
to seal the match.
Borussia Moenchengladbach won
2-0 at Bochum, while top-flight newcomers Holstein Kiel are still looking for
their first Bundesliga point, going down 2-0 at home to Wolfsburg.
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