Leverkusen’s ‘new DNA’ secures late win in Bundesliga opener

The late goals just keep coming for Bayer Leverkusen.

The defending Bundesliga champions needed a goal in the 11th minute of injury time to beat Borussia Monchengladbach 3-2 Friday after giving up a two-goal lead in the opening game of the Bundesliga season.

Xabi Alonso’s team went undefeated in both the league and the German Cup last season, in part thanks to a number of late goals and comebacks, and it continued in the same vein at the Borussia-Park. Florian Wirtz saw his last-gasp penalty saved, but converted the rebound to secure the win.

It was Bayer Leverkusen’s 12th game-tying or go-ahead goal in second-half stoppage time in all competitions since the start of last season, four more than any other team from Europe’s top five leagues in that span.

“Maybe this is our new DNA, let’s say that. This is not a blot, to believe until the end, doesn’t matter how we play, doesn’t matter what happened in the game,” midfielder Granit Xhaka told ESPN afterward.

“In the end, the mentality, the quality that we have shows one more time that we believe until the end and we are happy that we take the three points back home,” he added.

Alonso also put the team’s habit for late goals down to their mindset.

“It’s difficult to explain why we always score late goals,” he told a news conference. “We can’t train that and I can’t influence it. It’s the mentality of the team.”

Xhaka had given the visitors the lead with a thunderous 25-yard strike in the 12th minute and Wirtz made it 2-0 in the 38th after Gladbach failed to clear their lines.

Leverkusen then hit the woodwork twice, while Gladbach had a goal chalked off after a video review just before half-time.

But Nico Elvedi started the hosts’ comeback after 59 minutes and new signing Tim Kleindienst leveled it up in the 85th.

As so often with Leverkusen, there was still time for a final twist.

The visitors were awarded a penalty for a foul in the area deep into stoppage time, and while goalkeeper Jonas Omlin saved Wirtz’s spot kick he couldn’t prevent last season’s Bundesliga player of the year from slotting in the rebound as Leverkusen took their unbeaten run in the league to 35 games.

“We had the feeling at 2-2 we are still in the game,” Xhaka said. “Monchengladbach were putting some defensive players on so they give us more time in the midfield and after we have the players who have the quality to score, to finish the action, and we did it.”

Alonso, though, saw room for improvement as Leverkusen look to defend their title this season.

“It was an intense first Bundesliga game for us,” he added. “A lot of things happened in the second half, it was full of emotion right to the end. We did well in many phases.

“But we weren’t always so compact today, we were also a bit passive in some phases. We have to do that better. We have to be more aggressive.”

Play had been briefly halted at the start of the second half after fans lit multiple flares in the stands and part of the field was covered in smoke.

Information from The Associated Press, Reuters and ESPN Stats & Information contributed to this report.