Tiny Elversberg stun Leverkusen in dream Bundesliga debut

For Leverkusen, it was a complete mess. The summer had already brought another reset, with Carles Martinez Novell replacing Kasper Hjulmand after Die Werkself narrowly missed out on Champions League qualification last season, and the new coach spent much of this one raging on the touchline as his side kept giving the ball away in dangerous areas.

Match highlight

Cole Campbell forced Mark Flekken into a near-post save in the opening minutes, but that only delayed the breakthrough. 

In the 8th minute, Edmond Tapsoba failed to clear a cross inside his own area, and after Francis Onyeka picked up the loose ball and laid it off, Lukas Petkov fired low into the corner for Elversberg's 1st ever Bundesliga goal.

Straight from the restart, Tapsoba made another costly mistake with a loose square pass, Campbell stepped in, drove toward the edge of the box and finished brilliantly to make it 2-0 less than a minute later.

Leverkusen were all over the place. The home crowd could hardly believe what they were seeing, while the visitors looked rattled every time Elversberg pressed. Malik Tillman was robbed in midfield, Onyeka forced another smart save from Flekken, and both Felix Keidel and Petkov were then denied on the rebound.

Leverkusen had almost nothing going forward. Their best chance of a miserable 1st half came when Aleix Garcia's free-kick clipped the crossbar, but that was about it. They were slow, sloppy and strangely passive.

Only 30 seconds into the 2nd half, Elversberg struck again. Petkov delivered from the right and David Mokwa got across his marker to head into the far corner, punishing yet another awful piece of Leverkusen defending.

At 3-0, the upset was no longer just possible. From there, Leverkusen at least managed to gain some sort of foothold, but even then they struggled badly to turn possession into real danger. It took until the final 15 minutes for them to register a shot on target.

Patrik Schick reacted quickest to head home after Ibrahim Maza's effort had gone astray, and suddenly the nerves inside the stadium started to shift.

Victor Boniface struck the crossbar, and Christian Kofane was there to turn in the rebound, cutting the gap to 3-2 and setting up a frantic finish.

For a moment, it felt as if Leverkusen might do what they used to do so often during their title-winning run 2 years ago, find a way back from nowhere and steal the ending.

Elversberg held on to complete one of the great opening-day shocks and end Leverkusen's club-record 20-match unbeaten run against promoted teams.

It was also a landmark result in a wider Bundesliga sense, making Elversberg the 1st promoted side since RB Leipzig in 2016 to avoid defeat in their 1st match in the division.