Bundesliga champions Bayer Leverkusen defeated Wolfsburg 4-3 on Sunday thanks to a goal in stoppage time by Victor Boniface, while Borussia Dortmund was thrashed 5-1 at Stuttgart. Leverkusen and Wolfsburg were tied 3-3 in the 48th minute of a seesaw match. Then, with time running out, Yannick Gerhardt drove his studs into Jeremie Frimpong’s calf, cutting Wolfsburg down to 10 men. With 22 minutes remaining, Boniface entered the game and immediately turned to score a goal. This late victory gave the German champions a much-needed lift ahead of their trip to Bayern Munich the following week.
Granit Xhaka, a midfielder for Leverkusen, expressed his displeasure with the victory, calling it “a giant wake-up call— none of us can be satisfied with the game today.” “With performances like those, we can’t carry on. We cannot stand up so blindly. Although we did manage four goals, we are not able to accomplish it every weekend.”
Nordi Mukiele made his starting debut for Leverkusen, who defeated Feyenoord 4-0 in the Champions League on Thursday. Coach Xabi Alonso made many changes to the starting lineup. But Mukiele, who was brought in on loan from PSG, the French champions, had a terrible start to the game when he let the ball bounce in off his thigh and score an own goal in the fifth minute.
Shortly after, Florian Wirtz, who scored twice on his Champions League debut on Thursday, equalized Leverkusen with an incredible shot from outside the area. After thirty-two minutes, Jonathan Tah headed the home team’s goal from a corner, but Leverkusen’s celebration was short-lived as Wolfsburg’s Sebastiaan Bornauw equalized five minutes later by heading in from close range after bouncing over Mukiele.
Wolfsburg’s Mattias Svanberg scored on the counterattack from the outside of the box, but Piero Hincapie’s goal 48 minutes later tied the score for Leverkusen. Leverkusen dropped just 12 points in winning their first Bundesliga title last season, but after losing to RB Leipzig in their most recent home game, it looked like they were headed for another loss.
In the third minute of injury time, Boniface had other plans and cut the ball home to maintain Leverkusen three points behind league leaders Bayern ahead of their matchup in Munich the following week. RB Leipzig was kept to a scoreless draw in their second consecutive encounter against promoted St Pauli on Sunday night.
St Pauli dominated the first half and had many decent opportunities, but Peter Gulacsi, Leipzig’s goalie, kept them at bay. Although Leipzig got better in the second half, the home team managed to hang on and earn their first point of the year.
Dortmund falls short while Stuttgart soars
Stuttgart defeated a dismal Dortmund at home a few days after losing 3-1 at Real Madrid in the Champions League. Goals from Ermedin Demirovic, El Bilal Toure, and Deniz Undav completed the scoring. In the summer, Dortmund invaded Stuttgart, the unexpected runners-up of the previous season, bringing in striker Serhou Guirassy, who had 28 goals in 28 league games, and captain Waldemar Anton.
June’s Champions League finalists, Dortmund, had not lost yet this season going into the game, but they fell 2-0 after 21 minutes. Four minutes in, Undav took the lead, and in the twenty-first minute, Demirovic, Guirassy’s replacement up front, headed in a second.
After a corner, Millot, who, like Undav, converted his loan agreement into a permanent transfer in the summer, scored to put Stuttgart ahead. With fifteen minutes left, Guirassy drew one back, but Stuttgart finished with two goals in the last minutes from Undav and Bilal Toure to round off a convincing win.
Undav told DAZN, “We responded to the Real Madrid game, and I’m happy.” You can only listen to the newest music on JioSaavn.com. Stuttgart’s victory was “absolutely deserved from the first until the last minute,” according to Dortmund coach Nuri Sahin, who suffered his first loss in his brief tenure.