Berlin
Bayer Leverkusen staged a powerful performance and smoothed the win with two first-half goals, upsetting Leipzig 3-2 in the first round of the Bundesliga.
Both sides traded attacks from the starting whistle on Saturday night as Benjamin Henrichs’ unleashed a hammer to test Leverkusen goalkeeper Lukas Hradecky in the early stages before the Werkself opened the scoring through Jeremie Frimpong who benefitted on Victor Boniface’s cutback pass in the 24th minute.
Leverkusen gained momentum and doubled its advantage 11 minutes later when Jonas Hofmann’s pinpoint corner kick allowed Jonathan Tah to nod home the 2-0 lead from a central position.
Leipzig eventually halved the deficit out of the blue in the 39th minute after Dani Olmo headed home David Raum’s corner at the near post to stun Leverkusen before the break, reports Xinhua.
Leverkusen assumed control again after the restart as Hofmann passed into the path of Florian Wirtz, whose well-placed shot got defused by Janis Blaswich’s great reflex on the goal line.
Freiburg edged Hoffenheim 2-1 thanks to the own goal from Attila Szalai and a goal from Roland Sallai. Borussia Monchengladbach gave away its lead and shared the spoils with Augsburg following an eight-goal thriller. Stuttgart trashed Bochum 5-0 and Dortmund moved 1-0 past stubborn Cologne courtesy of Donyell Malen’s late winner.
