Leipzig comeback victory ends Leverkusen's 35 match league unbeaten run

Bayer 04 Leverkusen's historic 35-match league unbeaten run is finally over. Fellow title aspirants RB Leipzig have managed to prevail over Xabi Alonso's Werkself by the very same scoreline Leverkusen defeated them by twice last season. The German Red Bulls scored three unanswered goals against Germany's red company team at the BayArena to complete a sensational comeback victory. 

Xabi rotated heavily from the cup squad deployed on Wednesday. Only keeper Matej Kovar, midfielder Aleix Garcia, and the defensive duo on Jonathan Tah remained in the XI. Compared to the lineup initially rolled out in the league debut against Gladbach last week, Garcia (over Robert Andrich) and Michael Terrier (over Jonas Hofmann) were the only two personnel changes in the squad.

Marco Rose - in an obvious attempt to mirror Alonso's 3-4-3 - sent Lukas Klostermann on for the suspended Willi Orban.In a highly unexpected move, relatively inexperienced central defender El Chadaille Bitshiabu took the slot of midfielder Nicolas Seiwald. Bitshiabu anchored the back-three despite having only six Bundesliga appearances to his credit and not even making Rose's match-day squad in the first two competitive fixtures. 

The Westphalian hosts were unquestionably the better squad in the early going. Tapsoba and Florian Wirtz came very close to opening up the scoring on a double chance in the 6th. Piero Hincapie then struck the crossbar with a quality header in the 10th. In a moment almost identical to his screaming goal to open the Bundesliga campaign last week, Granit Xhaka ripped a shot wide in the 15th. 

The opening ended up featuring some flow-interrupting occurrences. Amadou Haidara was unable to continue after an early injury and Seiwald ended up having to come in at the quarter-of-an-hour-mark. Match-official Matthias Jöllenbeck then ended up sending RB trainer Rose off on double yellows in the 26th when the Red Bull gaffer persisted in his protests over an alleged foul from Tah on Loïs Openda. 

It took some time for both teams to settle down. Eventually, the first-half would produce two goals. Jeremie Frimpong notched the 1-0 in the 39th off a nice long ball from Tah. The opener featured defensive lapses by two of Rose's newly inserted defenders, Klostermann and Bitshiabu. The defending league champions then struck again in the final minute of normal time.

Alejandro Grimaldo dusted off an easy 2-0 in the 45th following some very nice set-up work from Xhaka, Wirtz, and Terrier. A two-goal half-time advantage seemed very fair as Alonso's Werkself were piling on the pressure towards the end of the half. All of a sudden, however, there was a lapse in the otherwise stable B04 defensive corps. 

It might have been the case that Tah, Tapsoba, and Hincapie already had their heads in the dressing room when Kevin Kampl ran unmarked into the penalty area to head home a Benjamin Henrichs cross at 45+7. A game that could have been on its way to an early conclusion was now a much tighter affair. Leverkusen were made to pay for the concession after the restart. 

Kampl made a bid at a brace and stung Kovar's palms in the 51st. One minute later, the Saxons thought they had already equalized when Castello Lukeba headed home a corner. The goal was unfortunately disallowed due to Benjamin Sesko's offside position. To their credit, Xabi's crew woke up and tried to restore the two-goal-cushion. 

Wirtz and Bonficace made their bids at the 3-1 as the hour-mark approached. It would nevertheless be Openda who scored next. The Belgian international blasted home the 2-2 from a tight angle in the 57th. Ten minutes later, Openda only just missed the chance to put his side in the lead with a header wide in the 67th. Matters calmed down a little while after a drinks break and several substitutions on both sides. 

In the end, it would be none other than Leipzig's "super sub" Antonio Nusa who once again made an impact off the bench. The 19-year-old Norwegian international played Openda ahead in the 80th off a nifty back-heel from Henrichs. Openda still needed to supply the finish from range and did so with aplomb. A calm laser from outside the area gave Opends his brace and his team a 3-2. 

There would be no "Later-kusen" theatrics at work on this day thanks to the fact that RB keeper Peter Gulacsi made a stellar save on Wirtz in the 84th and the over-eager B04 attackers ended up getting in each other's way during subsequent attack charges. Even the "Le-VAR-kusen" moniker would not work. A decision that could have potentially awarded Bayer a penalty in the 87th did not allow them to get a shot from the spot.