Leverkusen stunned as Asllani inspires Hoffenheim win | OneFootball

A new look Bayer Leverkusen under head coach Erik ten Hag made their first Bundesliga bow of the new season this afternoon. Despite a strong start, Die Werkself were left stunned as the final whistle sounded with TSG Hoffenheim sealing a memorable win to start their campaign.

In a frantic opening exchange where Leverkusen dominated, it took all of 6 minutes to open the scoring. Although Tim Lemperle struck the post for the visitors prior to it, a freekick whipped in by Alejandro Grimaldo found Jarrell Quansah to head home powerfully on his Bundesliga debut.

Hoffenheim settled after conceding and held their own up until netting a beautiful, one-touch 25th-minute equaliser. Bazoumana Touré, who missed an earlier chance, turned provider. Fisnik Asllani found space on the left of the box fired high to the roof of Mark Flekken's goal at the near post. The BayArena fell into a stunned silence.

Leverkusen almost replicated their set-piece heroics, albeit this time it was Hoffenheim's Machida who forced a save out of his own goalkeeper Baumann. Aside from a Vlad Coufal snapshot and a Piero Hincapie header, both of which were saved, we reached the break with parity between the teams.

Both coaches made a substitute at the break with Umut Tohumcu and Ernest Poku introduced. The scoreboard was subsequently flipped on it's head on 52 minutes as the Sinsheim club took the lead. A long ball was cushioned down by Asllani and fed to Lemperle who drilled his shot inside the left upright as Flekken dived in despair.

Hoffenheim seemed comfortable in their defensive setup as the hosts continued to probe for openings. Aside from a dripping strike from Grimaldo and a wayward Aleix Garcia freekick, chances were limited for both sides as the hour mark crept up. It wasn't long until Ilzer introduced Alex Prass and Kevin Akpoguma for Lemperle and Hanrac.

Die Werkself continued to push and pry for an opening which almost arrived on 78 minutes. Grimaldo found Schick who crossed for Nathan Tella who rippled the side-netting. There were debuts for Cristian Kofane and Claudio Echeverri as Ten Hag emptied the bench, but their efforts came up short in an opening day defeat.