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DORTMUND, Germany (AP) — Bayer Leverkusen started the year with a big boost to its hopes of defending the Bundesliga title by beating a depleted Borussia Dortmund 3-2 on Friday.
Nathan Tella scored 25 seconds into the 2025 Bundesliga opener and Leverkusen scored on their first 3 shots against Dortmund, who were missing six players and had to lock themselves into an improvised defensive line.
Leverkusen moved to one point off league leader Bayern Munich, which has its own injury problems ahead of facing Borussia Moenchengladbach on Saturday.
Leverkusen coach Xabi Alonso was able to celebrate a win over his former Real Madrid teammate Nuri Sahin, whose sixth-placed Dortmund could drop to 10th by the end of this weekend, depending on other teams’ results.
“We are very satisfied and very proud. Winning here is incredibly difficult,” Alonso told DAZN. “We did it with this field and with this fighting mentality to continue until the last minute. ”
Patrik Schick scored twice in the first half to move to 11 goals in his last seven Bundesliga games, ensuring Leverkusen hasn’t missed injured striker Victor Boniface.
“We’re seeing a super Patrik with his great will to improve and we need him,” Alonso said.
Dortmund had 70% of the possession, but their threadbare defense struggled to cope with rapid counterattacks. Jamie Gittens’ early goal kept Dortmund in the festival and when Leverkusen’s Edmond Tapsoba conceded a penalty for a reckless challenge, Serhou Guirassy switched the ball in the 79th minute to put Leverkusen in tension late on.
An outbreak of illness meant Dortmund was without players such as midfielder Emre Can and central defenders Nico Schlotterbeck and Waldemar Anton, on top of ongoing injury issues.
Of the back four, Yannik Lührs and Almugera Kabar were starting a Bundesliga game for the first time, Yan Couto was on his fourth league start of the season and Julian Ryerson, normally a right back, was covering an unfamiliar center back role.
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AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer