BERLIN (AP) — Hoffenheim spoiled Erik ten Hag’s Bundesliga debut as Bayer Leverkusen coach by coming from behind to defeat his team 2-1 in Leverkusen on Saturday.
Tim Lemperle scored the visitors’ winner early in the second half to get a new-look Leverkusen after a summer of change off to a disappointing start.
Ten Hag, who took over from the Real Madrid-bound Xabi Alonso, had three new signings in his starting lineup including goalkeeper Mark Flekken, young forward Ibrahim Maza, and defender Jarell Quansah.
Quansah headed Leverkusen into an early lead, but Fisnik Asllani leveled in the 25th and turned provider for Lemperle in the 52nd.
The summer departures of key players like Florian Wirtz, Granit Xhaka, Jeremie Frimpong and former captain Jonathan Tah – Amine Adli became the latest to leave Leverkusen on Thursday – were evident as the home team failed to mount a response.
“It’s tough because there’s a lot of new relationships forming and so it’s hard to build that rhythm exactly in the first game,” Quansah said. “It's not the end of the world that we’re not exactly where we want to be. It’s the first game of the season and we’ve got to understand that it’s going to come with time.”
New starts
Ten Hag was just one of four coaches making their Bundesliga debuts with new teams – six altogether this weekend.
Former Germany assistant Sandro Wagner got off to a dream start with his Augsburg team winning 3-1 in Freiburg, while Paul Simonis also had an opening win with Wolfsburg beating Heidenheim 3-1 away.
Horst Steffen’s Werder Bremen lost 4-1 at Eintracht Frankfurt, whose goalkeeper, Michael Zetterer, made his debut against his former teammates three days after switching between the sides.
Dortmund draws
Borussia Dortmund held on for a 3-3 draw at St. Pauli after Filippo Mané’s late sending off for the visitors.
Dortmund was leading 3-1 when Mané was shown a red card in the 85th for taking down Abdoulie Ceesay, who was through on goal. Danel Sinani scored the resulting penalty and Eric Smith sent the home fans wild when he equalized from distance four minutes after that.
Dortmund only defended for the final minutes as it sought to preserve its point.
A youngster's brilliant debut
The 20-year-old Ilyas Ansah scored two goals on his Bundesliga debut for Union Berlin to beat Stuttgart 2-1.
The game was delayed almost as soon as it started while stewards tried clearing streamers and confetti off the field. Union supporters had organized a huge tifo of a goalkeeper moving from one side of the stadium to the other to catch a ball with a giant banner declaring “stay true to your love!”
The fans found a new love in Ansah, who was given standing ovations as he took the long route back to the dugout after his starring performance.
Ansah, signed from second-division club Paderborn, scored in the 18th when he let fly with a volley in off the post and then again before the break with a crisp volley to Andrej Ilić’s cross.
Union also needed goalkeeper Frederik Rönnow at his best as he deflected Atakan Karazor’s shot onto the post among other saves.
Tiago Tomás, who returned to Stuttgart from Wolfsburg last week, scored late with his heel and Nick Woltemade thought he’d equalized in stoppage time, but the goal was ruled out for offside. Union's fans celebrated as if their team had scored and held on for the win.
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AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
Ciarán Fahey, The Associated Press
