Bayer Leverkusen were pushed all the way by Borussia Mönchengladbach, who fought back from 2-0 down to level at 2-2 before Xabi Alonso’s defending Bundesliga champions found a trademark late goal to claim all three points.
Florian Wirtz scored the winner in the 100th minute amid torrential rain at Borussia-Park, getting to the rebound first after Jonas Omlin had saved his penalty. The Gladbach keeper went the right way but could only push the ball back into play, allowing Wirtz to fire home his second goal of the game.
Leverkusen had started this Bundesliga opener in ominous fashion, with Granit Xhaka scoring the first goal of the season in fine style. Jérémie Frimpong raced on to a loose pass from the hosts, and his deflected cross fell to Xhaka, who fired the ball into the top corner from 30 yards out.
The visitors struck the post twice, through Victor Boniface and Edmond Tapsoba, before Wirtz doubled their lead in the 38th on the rebound after Álex Grimaldo’s shot was saved by Omlin. Tim Kleindienst thought he had pulled a goal back just before half-time but his inventive header was ruled out for a foul in the build-up.
Mönchengladbach did get on the scoresheet just before the hour mark, with Nico Elvedi poking the ball past Lukas Hradecky from Kevin Stöger’s free kick. Stöger then set up fellow summer signing Kleindienst, who nutmegged Tapsoba to pull the hosts level five minutes from time.
Gladbach were pushing to end their opponents’ long unbeaten league run, but then Ko Itakura brought down Werkself subsitute Amine Adli, and Leverkusen were awarded the penalty after a VAR review. As the clock ran into triple figures, Wirtz stepped up and scored at the second attempt to earn a dramatic victory.
“It was an intense first Bundesliga game for us. A lot of things happened in the second half, it was full of emotion right to the end,” Alonso said afterwards. “We weren’t always so compact today, and we were also a bit passive in some phases. We have to do that better. We have to be more aggressive.”
“It’s difficult to explain why we always score late goals,” added the Leverkusen head coach. “We can’t train that and I can’t influence it. It’s the mentality of the team.”
Paris Saint-Germain sent a message to their Ligue 1 rivals with a 6-0 demolition of Montpellier at Parc des Princes, improving their goal difference to 10-1 after just two matches. Bradley Barcola scored a solo goal in the fourth minute, and Marco Asensio doubled the hosts’ lead after a fine passing move.
Barcola scored his second from Ousmane Dembélé’s pass soon after the restart, before Achraf Hakimi slotted home from Nuno Mendes’ pinpoint long-range cross five minutes later. Dembélé then set up Warren Zaïre-Emery for PSG’s fifth, and substitute Lee Kang-in sealed the rout from the edge of the area eight minutes from time.
“I’m very happy because it’s our first home game. We wanted to give the fans some joy. It was a perfect evening. I felt it in training, the intensity of the pressing increased,” the PSG manager, Luis Enrique, told Dazn. “We scored six goals but we could have scored 10. The players were incredible. It’s a great feeling.”
In La Liga, new Villarreal recruit Ayozé Pérez scored a dramatic late winner at Sevilla. The visitors went ahead after just 75 seconds through Arnaut Danjuma, with Dodi Lukebakio levelling for Sevilla just before half-time. Villarreal saw two goals chalked off by VAR but in stoppage time, Pérez volleyed home to finish a counter attack.
Celta Vigo are the surprise early leaders in Spain after earning their second win of the season, beating Valencia 3-1 at home. Diego López put the visitors in front after 13 minutes but Óscar Mingueza and Iago Aspas turned the game around by the 28th minute at Balaídos.
Aspas had the chance to score Celta’s third before the break from the penalty spot, but Giorgi Mamardashvili – a summer transfer target for Liverpool – saved his effort. Valencia could not find a leveller, though, and Celta put the game out of sight when Fran Beltrán volleyed home the third on the hour mark.
