Florian Wirtz held his nerve to fire the winner 11 minutes into stoppage time as Bayer Leverkusen began their defence of their maiden Bundesliga title with a dramatic win at Borussia Monchengladbach.
Xabi Alonso’s side made it 35 league games unbeaten despite allowing a 2-0 lead to slip away and having to rely on a last-gasp goal which has become something of a hallmark of their success in the past 12 months,
Games played: 1
Last minute goals: 1We are SOOOO Back. 😮💨 pic.twitter.com/MWoBmc4AaP
— Bayer 04 Leverkusen (@bayer04_en) August 23, 2024
Granit Xhaka blasted the visitors ahead with a thunderous 25-yard half-volley into the top corner after just 12 minutes, though his celebrations were muted against his former club.
Victor Boniface and Edmond Tapsoba hit the woodwork for the visitors Wirtz doubled Bayer’s advantage with a neat finish after a goalmouth scramble seven minutes before the break.
Debutant Tim Kleindienst thought he had halved the deficit before the break but saw a close-range header ruled out for a foul on Piero Hincapie but it was 2-1 after a lengthy VAR review on 58 minutes when Nico Elvedi eventually turned home the loose ball after a deep free-kick had been nodded back into the middle.
In increasingly heavy rain Kleindienst slid to hook home Kevin Stoger’s perfectly-weighted through-ball with just five minutes remaining, seemingly denying the visitors the points.
However Bayer were awarded a penalty nine minutes into stoppage time after sub Amine Adli was adjudged by VAR to have been fouled by Ko Itakura and although Wirtz saw his low spot-kick superbly saved down to his right by keeper Jonas Omlin, Wirtz rammed home the rebound to spark wild celebrations as the Laterkusen nickname proved appropriate once again.
