Everything was set for a surprising draw. Current champion Bayer Leverkusen was better and had much better chances but Borussia Monchengladbach somehow managed so squeeze two goals past Hradecky and leveled the game to 2-2. But due to home team fans‘ great pyro the match was prolonged for another 10 minutes. And in the 101st minute of the game, VAR intervened when Borussia‘s Itakura made a challenge inside the penalty are. Referee looked but decided to ignore the fact that the Japanese touched the ball first and rewarded Xabi Alonso‘s team with another crazy, injury-time win: Borussia – Leverkusen 2-3.With so many exciting wins in the last minutes, Bundesliga champion is close to dethrone Real Madrid, and tonight they did it too, but with the help from VAR. They were clearly the better team, but in the end, referee‘s mistake allowed Florian Wirtz to secure the first three points in the new season. Borussia‘s Omlin actually saved his shot, but the German international scored from a rebound. This amount of luck for Leverkusen will surely bite they sometime during the new season. As far as the game is concerned, five goals, plenty of chances, controversial penalty and one disallowed goal are all that any average football fan wants to see, especially on the opening day of Bundesliga.Just minutes into the new season and Bayer was already leading. Nico Elvedi lost possession and after a couple of passes, the ball went to Granit Xhaka, who took a shot from 20 meters and smashed the ball into the net. Having played in Monchengladbach for four years (140 appearances), Xhaka immediately apologized to the home fans but the score remained 1-0. It was a time of total domination of the champions who managed to struck the post twice (Tapsoba and Boniface), but the home team had wonderful chances later through Kleindienst and Honorat. The punishment for those misses came in the 38th minute when Borussia‘s terrible defending allowed Wirtz to score from close range. Monchengladbach players were demoralized but things got worse when VAR disallowed their goal at the end of the first half.Bayer Leverkusen & Mönchengladbach 🔥https://t.co/vtYYWf79oA— KinG £ (@xKGx__) August 23, 2024 After a 15 minute break, Frimpong had a chance to put the game away when he broke in front of Omlin all by himself but didn‘t shoot good and the Swiss keeper made a save with his shoulder. Home fans watched the referee in horror when he waited to confirm their goal scored by Elvedi in the 59th minute. A possibility of two nullified goals was a terrible one, but VAR decided that Itakura was not in offside prior to goal and suddenly, it was exciting again. Xabi Alonso‘s men hurried back to score the third goal and secure three points way before the 90th minute, but it didn‘t happen, on the contrary. Borussia‘s new striker Tim Kleindienst scored his second goal of the night, but unlike the first, this one was confirmed by VAR and suddenly the score was 2-2. But, as we described at the beginning, referee decided to hand over the victory to Leverkusen.BUNDESLIGA – MATCHDAY 1FridayM’ gladbach – Leverkusen 2-3 (0-1)/Elvedi 59, Kleindienst 85 – Xhaka 12, Wirtz 38, 101/Saturday16:30: (2.30) Augsburg (3.45) Werder (3.05)16:30: (3.20) Freiburg (3.45) Stuttgart (2.10)16:30: (1.67) Hoffenheim (3.90) Holstein Kiel (5.00)16:30: (2.05) Mainz (3.45) Union Berlin (4.10)16:30: (1.30) RB Leipzig (5.90) Bochum (9.00)19:30: (1.75) Dortmund (3.80) Eintr.Frankfurt (4.60)Sunday16:30: (6.50) Wolfsburg (4.40) Bayern (1.50)18:30: (2.25) St.Pauli (3.40) Heidenheim (3.20)***odds are subject to change***
