Last-minute penalty lifts Leverkusen over Gladbach in Bundesliga opener
With some help from the VAR team, there were more "Later-Kusen" theatrics at Borussia Park during the official start of the 62nd season of Germany's post-war top footballing flight. In the end, a penalty at 90+11 allowed the champs to collect all three points.
| Photo: Bayer 04 Leverkusen |
Defending German Bundesliga champions Bayer 04 Leverkusen have extended their unbeaten-league-run to 35 straight fixtures with a 3-2 draw away at Borussia Mönchengladbach in Friday evening's 2024/25 German Bundesliga opener. Granit Xhaka got the new season off to a rollicking start with a thunderstruck goal against his former club early on. Before the first half was out, Florian Wirtz put the champs up 2-0. Gerardo Seoane's men nevertheless battled back to score two goals in the second half. A late penalty enabled Xabi Alonso's Werkself to claim all three points.
Xabi made five changes to the team that lined up against VfB Stuttgart in the DFL Supercup six days ago. New summer signings Jeanuel Belocian, Alex Garcia, and Michael Terrier made way for familiar faces Jonas Hofmann, Florian Wirtz, and Jeremie Frimpong. Jonathan Tah and Alejandro Grimaldo also took the starting slots of Nathan Tella and Amine Adli. Seoane, by contrast, made just one change to the Pokal squad that worked its way past Erzgebirge Aue last Saturday. Nico Elvedi returned to take the place of Fabio Chiarodia.
After a cautious start to proceedings, the Niederrhein hosts were able to signal some intent via a pair of half-chances five minutes in. Seoane's Foals did marginally appear the stronger team until Xhaka opened up the scoring in the 11th. Frimpong picked off a poor-pass from Elvedi and rushed towards the BMG goal on the right flank on a blitz counter. Elvedi recovered in time to head Frimpong's cross-in back to his Swiss compatriot. Unfortunately for Elvedi, Xhaka booted home a rocket-finish from 20 meters out to notch the 1-0.
Gladbach nearly answered Xhaka's dream goal four minutes later, but Rocco Reitz couldn't quite find the proper shooting angle after muscling his way through a scramble in the 15th. The lively affair kept producing chances, with Leverkusen's Victor Boniface hitting the post in the 18th, Tim Kleindienst forcing a parry out of B04 keeper Lukas Hradecky in the 21st, and Edmond Tapsoba once again rattling the woodwork with a powerful long-range effort in the 23rd. Matters then calmed down for a bit until two Kleindienst near misses some ten minutes before the end of the half.
Some solid play from the Fohlenelf near the end of the opening 45 was nevertheless quickly cancelled out when Wirtz skillfully slotted home the 2-0 after a bit of pinball in the box in the 38th. The underdogs thought they had at least pulled a goal back in the 42nd when Kleindienst pushed past Hincapie and bungled home a header in the 42nd. Celebrations were short lived, however, as replays confirmed that Kleindienst had clearly fouled Hincapie when challenging for the ball.
After a long pyro-smoke delay to start the second half, Gladbach were again made to sweat over a goal during a lengthy VAR review. Elvedi stuffed home the supposed 1-2 off a free-kick in the 59th. The tally was reviewed while BMG defender Ko Itakura was checked for an offside position. In the end, match official Robert Schröder ruled that the goal should count. The reigning champions went in search of a goal to restore their advantage with regular attacking waves.
Amid a spell of mostly one-way traffic, Bayer substitute Michael Terrier came closest with an effort shortly after his introduction in the 66th. Play began to slow up a bit on both sides as steady rainfall at Borussia Park rendered the playing surface soaked and sodden. Seemingly out of nowhere, the equalizer came five minutes from the end of normal time. New Gladbach addition Kevin Stöger collected a well-earned assist on the 85th minute 2-2.
The flat play though from Stöger to his fellow new summer arrival Kleindienst appeared relatively tame, but Kleindienst bravely dropped low against frozen marker Tapsoba and swept him the home side's second goal with a clever and acrobatic finish. The chance to nab a late winner came when yet another VAR review confirmed that Itakura had fouled Adli in the box at 90+9.
Wirtz strode to the spot to take the penalty, overcoming an initial save from BMG keeper and captain Jonas Omlin at 90+11. Wirtz still stayed with the ball and sent the rebound in for the 3-2. Wirtz's brace lifted Germany's red company team to a not-undeserved win, but a result certainly not indicative of Gladbach's passionate second half.