Champions Bayer Leverkusen, one of FC Salzburg’s opponents in the Champions League, lost their aura of invincibility in the Bundesliga on Saturday with the help of some former Salzburg players such as Austria’s team player Nicolas Seiwald, Kevin Kampl and Hungary’s team goalkeeper Peter Gulacsi. A 2-0 lead against RB Leipzig after 45 minutes turned into a 2-3 (2-1), the first defeat under coach Xabi Alonso since May 27, 2023 (0-3 against Bochum in the last round of the 2022/23 season) or 35 games or 463 days. Marco Rose, Leipzig’s coach with a Salzburg past, had to go to the stands with a yellow-red card after 26 minutes because he got too upset about a foul on Belgian Lois Openda.
Seiwald (pictured) was not part of the starting eleven, coming on after just 15 minutes for ex-Salzburg player Amadou Haidara, who was groggy because Leverkusen striker Victor Boniface hit him full on the head with a back-pedal. With Leverkusen leading 2-0, everything seemed to be over. But in the seventh minute of stoppage time in the first half, Kampl headed the equaliser, and after the break Openda scored twice. After 80 minutes, Leipzig were in the lead and held on for 18 minutes. Because stoppage time in the second half lasted eight minutes, the match was 105 minutes in total. Christoph Baumgartner helped to keep the score at 3-2 from the 89th minute. This time, Leverkusen’s late goal, something the champions are known for, did not save them. The same happened at the season opener in Mönchengladbach, when they also let a 2-0 lead slip away but still managed a 3-2 win. Not on Saturday. Rose could celebrate, but another former Salzburg coach could not: Roger Schmidt was sacked at Benfica Lisbon after two years. He came in 2022, finished second a year later, and second behind Sporting last season. Now seven points after the first four rounds were not enough.
There were other Austrians who won in the Bundesliga on Saturday. Team newcomer Kevin Stöger and Borussia Mönchengladbach beat his former club Bochum 2:0 (0:0), having had a hand in the opening move. Patrick Wimmer and Wolfsburg botched their home debut in the Bundesliga with a 2:0 (2:0) win against newly promoted Holstein Kiel, in which ex-Austrian Benedikt Pichler played the full game. Wimmer was one of the seven Wolfsburg players who received a yellow card. Kiel’s coach Marcel Rapp and one of the assistants of his colleague at Wolfsburg, Ralph Hasenhüttl (his son Patrick), received a red card after the final whistle. Defence chief Maxence Lacroix was no longer with Wolfsburg. He followed his former coach Oliver Glasner to Crystal Palace on Friday. That brought Wolfsburg 18 million euros. However, Glasner will not use him in Sunday’s derby against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.
Saturday was exciting for team defender Philipp Mwene: Mainz made up a 0:2 deficit at runner-up VfB Stuttgart, conceded the 2:3 in the 88th minute, but managed to make it 3:3 in the 95th minute. Alexander Prass played until the 73rd minute in Hoffenheim’s 1:3 (0:2) loss at Eintracht Frankfurt, Florian Grillitsch was absent due to muscular problems.
Photo: Luciano Lima/Getty.
