Champions Bayer Leverkusen easily shrugged off their first Bundesliga defeat against Hoffenheim in more than a year and won, thanks in particular to Victor Boniface. Leipzig dropped points against Union Berlin after a missed penalty, Stuttgart and Frankfurt celebrated away victories, and Freiburg turned the game around against Bochum.
1899 Hoffenheim – Bayer 04 Leverkusen 1:4 (1:2)
Bayer Leverkusen has coped well with its first league defeat in 15 months. Led by “scoring king” Victor Boniface, the double winners won 4:1 (2:1) at TSG Hoffenheim on the third matchday of the Bundesliga. Before the international break, Bayer had lost 2:3 to RB Leipzig.
Boniface (30th/75th), new signing Martin Terrier after the Nigerian’s assist (17th) and Florian Wirtz from the penalty spot (72nd) scored for Leverkusen, who will face Feyenoord Rotterdam in their Champions League opener on Thursday. TSG suffered their second defeat in a row. Mergim Berisha’s goal (37th) did nothing to change that.
The 30,150 spectators in the sold-out Sinsheim Arena saw the guests clearly superior at the start. Hoffenheim barely made it past the halfway line. After just under a quarter of an hour, TSG came into the game better, but it was the Werkself who scored the goal. Terrier had no trouble after Boniface’s preparatory work and scored his first Bundesliga goal from close range. After taking the lead, Leverkusen controlled the game. Hoffenheim, who had to make do without ex-Leverkusen player Adam Hlozek, Grischa Prömel, Ihlas Bebou, David Jurasek and Ozan Kabak, among others, only reacted.
Boniface had the second Bayer goal on his head, but was stopped by Baumann (28′). Shortly afterwards, the attacker won the same duel and scored with a right-footed shot. But there was no question of a foregone conclusion. Berisha, who had been absent from Hoffenheim for a long time due to a cruciate ligament tear, brought the Kraichgau team back into the match. In stoppage time in the first half, Boniface (45’+2) and Alejandro Grimaldo (45’+4) missed two great chances to score more goals.
Leverkusen let things slide a little at the start of the second period. It wasn’t until the 67th minute that Boniface threatened again with a header. Shortly afterwards, Wirtz didn’t have to be asked twice from the penalty spot. Dennis Geiger had fouled Grimaldo. Boniface increased the score just a short time later.
Borussia Mönchengladbach – VfB Stuttgart 1:3 (1:1)
The wait is over: Led by double-packer Ermedin Demirovic, runners-up VfB Stuttgart have secured their first win of the season. With the 3-1 (1-1) win at Borussia Mönchengladbach on the third matchday, coach Sebastian Hoeneß’s team also gained confidence for the difficult Champions League opener at Real Madrid on Tuesday.
National player Deniz Undav (21′) and new signing Demirovic scored twice (57’/61′) for VfB, who only started to show strength after the break. For Borussia, Frenchman Alassane Plea (27′) equalised on the 80th birthday of club legend Günter Netzer.
The VfB fans were already thinking about Madrid before kick-off. “Stuttgart international – after all this shit, it’s time to travel,” read a huge banner. Hoeneß had called for concentration on Gladbach, but allowed thoughts of Real. “It’s like the pink elephant that you can’t think about,” said the VfB coach.
VfL Wolfsburg – Eintracht Frankfurt 1:2 (0:1)
Eintracht Frankfurt is on course for a successful season thanks to its new magic duo Omar Marmoush and Hugo Ekitike. The Hessians celebrated their second win of the season on Saturday with a 2-1 (1-0) victory at VfL Wolfsburg and were once again able to rely on the qualities of their attackers. Marmoush scored twice against his former club – first after Ekitike’s assist (30th minute), then after Ridle Baku equalised (76th minute) with a handball penalty to decide the game (82nd minute).
Wolfsburg, on the other hand, suffered their second defeat of the season and another dampener on their mood. Coach Ralph Hasenhüttl recently caused controversy with his “cemetery” remark to Wolfsburg fans. VfL was only able to implement his intention to “make an advance payment” to the fans and “show what the people here want to see” in phases.
RB Leipzig – 1. FC Union Berlin 0:0
RB Leipzig dropped unnecessary points in the strange duel without a head coach and suffered a small setback before the Champions League opener. Five days before the eagerly awaited highlight game at Atlético Madrid, the harmless Leipzig team only managed a 0:0 draw against Union Berlin in a long, lackluster game. After two successes in a row, it was the first point loss in the new season for the Saxons.
Loïs Openda (74th) missed a great opportunity to win late on when he was denied a penalty by Union goalkeeper Frederik Rönnow. RB will now continue on Thursday (9 p.m./DAZN) with the start of the new Champions League phase in the Spanish capital.
The two coaches had been the subject of discussion beforehand – without even being involved in the game. Or perhaps because of that. While assistant coach Alexander Zickler had to replace the suspended RB coach Marco Rose after his second yellow card in the 3-2 win at Bayer Leverkusen, Union coach Bo Svensson was out at short notice due to an infection. Assistant Babak Keyhanfar took over the team in place of the Dane.
SC Freiburg – VfL Bochum 2:1 (0:1)
VfL Bochum is facing uncomfortable times. The Ruhrpott club also failed to score its first points of the season on the third matchday – the team lost 1:2 (1:0) at SC Freiburg on Saturday afternoon despite being in the lead. This means that Bochum is at least temporarily the sole bottom of the table.
In Freiburg’s Europa-Park Stadium, Myron Boadu (45th) gave VfL a surprise lead in front of 34,100 spectators. In the second half, however, Junior Adamu (58th, 61st) turned the game around for Freiburg after the Breisgau team had already been the better team in the first 45 minutes.
After the convincing 3-1 opening win against runner-up Stuttgart and the 0-2 defeat at Bayern Munich, the SCF once again demonstrated its home strength. With this success, the Breisgau team is moving back up to the top of the table.
