Bayer warm-up for Lazio by humbling Hoffenheim

Bayer Leverkusen warmed up for their Champions League play-off clash at Lazio with a 2-1 comeback win against Hoffenheim on the opening weekend of the Bundesliga season on Saturday.

Leverkusen face Lazio away on Tuesday, with the return on August 26, for a place in the Champions League group stage and 19-year-old Julian Brandt came off the bench to score their winner at home to Hoffenheim.

Leverkusen fell behind when Swiss midfielder Steven Zuber fired Hoffenheim ahead with just five minutes gone.

The hosts drew level when South Korea forward Son Heung-Min took on the defence, Brazil left-back Wendell fired in a shot and striker Stefan Kiessling tapped home the rebound on 45 minutes.

Brandt, a Germany Under-20 international, had only been on the pitch for seven minutes when he finished off a counter-attack by hitting the top right-hand corner on 71 minutes with a superb strike.

Elsewhere, newly-promoted Ingolstadt celebrated their debut in Germany's top flight with a 1-0 win at Mainz as Austria international Lukas Hinterseer scored their second-half winner.

Fellow new boys Darmstadt finished their first game in the Bundesliga for 33 years with a 2-2 draw against Hanover in an action-packed match.

Fleet-footed winger Marcel Heller twice gave Darmstadt the lead, only for Dutch forward Charlison Benschop to get the first equaliser for Hanover before an own goal by centre-back Aytac Sulu made it 2-2 midway through the second half.
Darmstadt goalkeeper Christian Mathenia saved a Mevlut Erdinc penalty with the score at 2-1 just before Sulu's blunder gave each side a point.

Schalke picked up their first win under new coach Andre Breitenreiter with a 3-0 victory at Werder Bremen.

The hosts conceded an unlucky first-half own goal when Czech defender Theodor Gebre Selassie beat Schalke striker Klaas-Jan Huntelaar to the ball, but his clearance looped over Werder goalkeeper Felix Wiedwald and into his own net.

Cameroon striker Eric Choupo-Moting converted a pass from his international team-mate Joel Matip on 68 minutes before Huntelaar finished off a superb counter-attack on 85 minutes by 19-year-old substitute Leroy Sane, who had just come on.

Meanwhile, Paraguay striker Raul Bobadilla penned a contract extension at Augsburg until 2018 only to be sent off just 45 minutes into the new Bundesliga season on Saturday in his team's 1-0 defeat at home to Hertha Berlin.
The 28-year-old Bobadilla was shown a second yellow card, and the subsequent red, when he was booked just before the half-time whistle.

Ivory Coast forward Salomon Kalou converted a second-half penalty to give Hertha the win, while both sides finished with 10 men as the visitors' Dutch midfielder Roy Beerens was sent off for a second yellow card.

Defending champions Bayern Munich began their quest for an historic fourth successive title when they routed Hamburg 5-0 at home on Friday with Thomas Mueller scoring twice and Brazilian winger Douglas Costa netting on his Bundesliga debut.

Borussia Dortmund, the last team to win the league before Bayern in 2012, host Moenchengladbach on Saturday evening, while last season's runners-up Wolfsburg are at home to Eintracht Frankfurt on Sunday.
Source: AFP