Leverkusen begins title defence in tradition

Bayer Leverkusen kick-started their title defence campaign with a late 3-2 win over Borussia Monchengladbach.

A stoppage time goal by Florian Wirtz gave Leverkusen the win in the Bundesliga season opener on Friday.

The game started brightly for the defending champions as Granit Xhaka opened the scoring in the 12th minute with a powerful strike against his former team.

Florian Wirtz doubled the lead also in the first half to give Xabi Alonso’s team a comfortable lead away from home.

However, Gladbach’s defender, Nico Elvedi pulled one back for the home side in the 62th minute to give the home side a slight hope.

The home side sealed the comeback in the  85th minute as Tim Kleindienst got the better of Leverkusen’s Edmund Tapsoba to make it 2-2.

The game was not over for Leverkusen who brought back familiar stoppage-time dramatic style as the invincible German champions were awarded a penalty in the 98th minute following a Ko Itakura’s foul on Amine Adli. Wirtz missed from the spot-kick but scored the rebound to earn his team all three points.

The winning goal made it Bayer Leverkusen’s 12th game-tying or winning stoppage time goal in all competition since last season.

Xabi Alonso’s team will hope to continue their unbeatable streak in the league and retain the Bundesliga title, as they welcome RB Leipzig for the season’s second game.