BERLIN: Bayer Leverkusen let a two-goal lead slip to draw 3-3 at 10-man Werder Bremen on Saturday, denying new coach Erik ten Hag his first league win in charge.
Leverkusen were 3-1 ahead and a man up after Patrik Schick’s Panenka penalty midway through the second-half, with Bremen’s Niklas Stark shown a second yellow card for the foul which led to the spot-kick.
But Leverkusen let Bremen back into the match when goalkeeper Mark Flekken advanced out of his area and misjudged a long ball, allowing Isaac Schmidt the easiest of finishes.
Bremen continued to attack and snatched a point in the fourth minute of stoppage time, Karim Coulibaly volleying in after the ball bounced off the crossbar.
Coulibaly, 18, is Bremen’s youngest ever goalscorer in the Bundesliga.
Leverkusen were also 2-0 up in the first half after Schick scored a fifth-minute opener and debutant Malik Tillman added another on the 35th-minute mark.
Bremen won a controversial penalty, converted by Romano Schmidt on the stroke of half-time, before the second-half drama.
The result puts some early pressure on Ten Hag who is trying to weave together a team full of new recruits, while reviving his own reputation after a poor end to his Manchester United stint.
“There were too many simple mistakes from us... we did dumb things and gave the game away,” Tillman told DAZN.
Despite the disappointment, the draw kept Leverkusen’s remarkable away run alive, with the club unbeaten on the road in the league since May 2023.
“(It is) hard to accept. We have to improve very quickly. Obviously, this is not a good situation,” Schick said.
Elsewhere, new Eintracht Frankfurt winger Ritsu Doan scored a brace and added an assist as his side cruised to a 3-1 win at Hoffenheim.
Japan winger Doan, who arrived from Freiburg in the summer, netted Frankfurt’s opener on 17 minutes with a superb curling effort from well outside the box.
Doan doubled up 10 minutes later, tapping in a Jean-Matteo Bahoya pass on the break, before laying on an excellent pass for Can Uzun to score Frankfurt’s third.
Stuttgart beat Borussia Moenchengladbach 1-0 at home thanks to a late header from Chema Andres, just hours after striker Nick Woltemade’s departure to Newcastle was made official.
The German Cup holders were sluggish but grabbed the three points when Andres headed in with 79 minutes played after some poor marking by the Gladbach defense.
RB Leipzig bounced back from last week’s 6-0 drubbing at the hands of Bayern Munich, winning 2-0 at home against Heidenheim thanks to goals from Christoph Baumgartner and new striker Romulo Cardoso.
In Saturday’s late game, defending champions Bayern play at Bavarian neighbors Augsburg.
