dpa
Berlin
Champions Bayer Leverkusen won 4-1 at Hoffenheim on Saturday to get their Bundesliga title defence back on track thanks to Victor Boniface’s impressive double.
Leverkusen, who went through the whole of the last Bundesliga campaign unbeaten, lost last time out at home to RB Leipzig but a flying start in Hoffenheim helped them bounce back straight away.
“It was really important to win after we lost,” Boniface told Sky. I’m really happy because I have been unlucky in the first two games. I needed this.”
The Red Bulls drew 0-0 at home to Union Berlin, with Loïs Openda missing a penalty for the hosts and both coaches missing from the bench given Marco Rose was suspended and Bo Svensson ill. Borussia Mönchengladbach, marking club icon Günter Netzer’s 80th birthday, lost 3-1 at home to last term’s runners-up VfB Stuttgart as Ermedin Demirovi?’s quickfire double added to new Germany starter Deniz Undav’s opener. Alassane Pléa had levelled for the Foals but was injured while scoring.
Stuttgart visit holders Real Madrid as the revamped Champions League starts on Tuesday. Eintracht Frankfurt won 2-1 at Wolfsburg after Omar Marmoush’s brace against his former club while bottom side Bochum scored their first goal of the campaign but still lost 2-1 at Freiburg.
Bayern Munich, hoping to move top with a third win out of three, visit promoted Holstein Kiel in the Saturday’s late game.
Heidenheim, who led the table with two straight wins before the international break, lost 4-2 at new leaders Borussia Dortmund on Friday.
Underpants goal celebration Leverkusen have had two weeks to mull their first league defeat in 36 games and quickly tried to make amends when French winger Martin Terrier, a close-season signing from Stade Rennes, netted his first Bundesliga goal from Boniface’s lay-off.
The powerful Nigeria forward got on the scoresheet himself on the half hour when Leverkusen again sprang the offside trap. Mërgim Berisha’s goal on his first start for a club in boardroom chaos made it 2-1 on 37 minutes and it was very nearly soon 2-2, but his header was ruled out for offside.
Leverkusen weathered the storm, having led 2-0 leads slip in their first two matches of the season, and Florian Wirtz’s second-half spot-kick, after Alex Grimaldo was felled, gave them breathing space.
