LEVERKUSEN: Victor Boniface struck a stoppage-time winner to give Bundesliga champions Bayer Leverkusen a thrilling 4-3 win over VfL Wolfsburg on Sunday, while Deniz Undav scored a brace as a rampant VfB Stuttgart put on a spectacular display to shock Borussia Dortmund 5-1.

Second-placed Leverkusen have nine points from four games, level with SC Freiburg and Eintracht Frankurt, but despite taking home the three points, it was far from a convincing performance from the champions with midfielder Granit Xhaka criticising his side’s defending.

“This is a huge wake-up call for all of us. We can’t continue with this performance,” Xhaka told DAZN. “We can’t defend so naively. That’s not good enough and shouldn’t happen at this level. A top team doesn’t concede two goals in nine minutes! It was all far too easy.”

Eighth-placed Dortmund are level on seven points with Stuttgart, who sit one place higher thanks to a better goal difference, and the two sides are a point behind RB Leipzig, who were held to a 0-0 stalemate at promoted St Pauli.

Leverkusen coach Xabi Alonso opted to shuffle his pack, making five changes to the team that beat Feyenoord 4-0 in the Champions League, and they suffered a nightmare start as they conceded from a Nordi Mukiele own goal in the fourth minute.

Leverkusen levelled nine minutes later when Florian Wirtz found space on the edge of the box and swept his shot into the bottom corner, before an unmarked Jonathan Tah scored their second with a cool header at the back post.

The lead was short-lived as the visitors equalised from a Sebastiaan Bornauw header before Mattias Svanberg went on a driving run in Leverkusen’s half and curled the ball past goalkeeper Lukas Hradecky on the stroke of halftime but Leverkusen levelled again on 48 minutes through Piero Hincapie.

In breaking through for their debut Bundesliga title last season without losing a match Leverkusen dropped just 12 points but they appeared on course for a second setback after losing to RB Leipzig in their last home game.

Boniface had other ideas and sliced the ball home in the third minute of injury time to keep Leverkusen three points behind league leaders Bayern Munich.

Days after going down 3-1 at Real Madrid in the Champions League, Stuttgart dominated a disappointing Dortmund at home.

Dortmund had raided last season’s surprise runners-up Stuttgart in the summer, signing captain Waldemar Anton and striker Serhou Guirassy who had scored 28 goals in 28 league games.

Champions League finalists in June, Dortmund came into the match yet to lose this season but were 2-0 down in 21 minutes.

Undav cut in on the break just four minutes in and Ermedin Demirovic — Guirassy’s replacement up front — headed in a second on the 21-minute mark.

Enzo Millot, who like Undav upgraded his loan deal to a permanent move in the summer, tapped in after a corner to put Stuttgart in control.

Guirassy pulled a goal back with 15 minutes remaining, but Stuttgart scored twice in the closing stages through El Bilal Toure and Undav to top off a dominant victory.

Published in Dawn, September 24th, 2024