Bundesliga newcomers Elversberg began their first top-flight campaign in style, stunning Bayer Leverkusen with an impressive 3-2 home victory on Saturday. The Bulgarian winger Lukas Petkov and American winger Cole Campbell scored within 60 seconds of each other to put Elversberg 2-0 up before the 10-minute mark. David Mokwa added another early in the second half in front of 9,307 delirious fans.
Patrik Schick and Christian Kofane pulled late goals back, but it was not enough to prevent a famous victory for the minnows, as they embarrassed a team who won the 2023-24 Bundesliga without losing a game. The Saarland town of Elversberg has a population of just 13,000, making it the smallest settlement to have ever hosted a Bundesliga side. The team’s ground, the Ursapharm-Arena, has a reduced capacity while upgrades are made to meet the German top flight’s stadium criteria.
I am incredibly proud of the team.” Leverkusen looked disorganised and lacked energy until late on, showing new coach Carles Martínez Novell that he has work to do. The Spaniard took over from Kasper Hjulmand in the summer after leaving his previous role at Ligue 1 side Toulouse. RB Leipzig cruised to a 3-0 home win over Borussia Mönchengladbach, with the former Chelsea and France forward Christopher Nkunku setting up a goal on his return to the club.
Ridle Baku’s first-half goal came against the run of play for Leipzig but the hosts took control when Antonio Nusa produced a stunning finish early in the second half. Nkunku came on midway through the second half and set up a goal for the former Gladbach forward Rocco Reitz just two minutes later. In the capital, Union Berlin came from 3-1 down to draw 3-3 with Eintracht Frankfurt, cancelling out Younes Ebnoutalib’s hat-trick for the visitors.
Union’s Tim Skarke scored in the third minute of stoppage time to level things up for the hosts. The Cologne substitute Thijs Dallinga bagged a double and young winger Said El Mala scored a dazzling solo effort as the hosts came from behind twice to beat Hoffenheim 3-2. Elsewhere, Mainz played out a scoreless draw at home to promoted Paderborn.
In Ligue 1, winger Gessime Yassine struck twice as Strasbourg came from behind to beat Lens 2-1 at home on Saturday, ending the visitors’ strong start to the season. Lens took the lead when Jeyland Mitchell felled Abdallah Sima in the box, and captain Thauvin stepped up to confidently rattle home the spot-kick in the 38th minute. Strasbourg came out firing in the second half,equalising through a deflected Yassine strike after three minutes.
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