It had to happen sometime but, after such a great run, a record-breaking Bundesliga run no less, the German champions deserve all the plaudits.
For over the past year, the ‘invincibles’ of Bayer Leverkusen have provided us with some truly superb Bundesliga highlights, ones which will live long in the memory – a period of 462 days and 35 games, stretching back to the final day of the 2022-23 season.
That was the last time they had tasted a domestic defeat until Saturday when RB Leipzig came from two goals down to snatch a 2-3 win.
There was a certain irony in how the long unbeaten run was ended as Leverkusen were victims to a comeback they have become masters of themselves – especially in the final weeks of last season when, with the title already secured, they produced some superb fightbacks to maintain their run and finish the season undefeated.
Loïs Openda’s double was the main talking point for Leipzig who have won their first two games, are unbeaten in 13 league matched, and showed at the BayArena that perhaps they will have their own title credentials this term.
Back to Leverkusen and, in many ways, it may be a relief now they’ve finally been defeated and they can concentrate on starting another winning run.
As manager Xabi Alonso and his players saluted their fans at full-time, they deserved all the acclaim in the world.
Alonso’s side were one result away from matching Hamburg’s tally of 36 games unbeaten in 1982-83 – that is the second-longest run in history after Bayern Munich’s record 53 games from 2012 to 2014.
Talking of Bayern, the Bavarians are looking to bounce back after a miserable (by their standards) 2023-24 and they have made an ideal start with two wins out of two.
In seeing off spirited Freiburg 2-0 in their first home match of the new campaign, there was also a record for a bona fide German legend as Thomas Muller became the club’s all-time record appearance holder.
Muller, 34, came on as a second-half substitute for his 710th competitive appearance, passing former German goalkeeper Sepp Maier’s record of 709 in all competitions.
And he marked the occasion by scoring his 150th Bundesliga goal to double the lead in the 78th minute and make it two wins out of two for Bayern in the league under new manager Vincent Kompany.
He is the only player to score a goal in Europe’s top five leagues in each of the last 16 seasons, a run starting in 2009-10.
This was all after England captain Harry Kane has notched his first Bundesliga goal of the new season, sending goalkeeper Florian Muller the wrong way from the penalty spot in the 38th minute after Christian Gunter handled inside the penalty area.
There was no consolation for Freiburg as substitute Lucas Holer missed a penalty of his own in stoppage time when he blazed over the bar.
Elsewhere, perennial runners-up Borussia Dortmund were held to a 0-0 draw at Werder Bremen, with centre-back Nico Schlotterbeck sent off in the second half.
Last season’s runners-up Stuttgart were frustrated at home by Mainz as Maxim Leitsch’s injury-time effort cancelled out Fabian Rieder’s late strike to earn the visitors a point in a wild 3-3 draw.
Stuttgart were cruising inside 15 minutes as goals from Enzo Millot and Jamie Leweling put them in the box seat and the SBOTOP Bundesliga betting odds on course.
Despite being in complete control for almost all of the match, they were pegged back by Nadiem Amiri and Jonathan Burkardt and, even after retaking the lead two minutes from time, could not hold on.
That led to tempers to flare at full-time with home striker Ermedin Demirović and Dominik Kohr appearing to grab each other by the throat, summing up an afternoon of frustration for Stuttgart, and pure joy for Mainz who continue to thrive under Bo Henriksen.
When the Dane took over last season, the club had amassed just 12 points and were nine adrift of safety.
However, with their new man at the helm, they picked up 23 points from their final 13 games to guarantee their top-tier status for another campaign.
With two draws, they have made a fine start to this season too.
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