BERLIN: Bundesliga leaders Bayer Leverkusen drew 3-3 against Werder Bremen in a rollercoaster game on Saturday to see their perfect start to the season end following two victories.
Home side Leverkusen have only themselves to blame for not killing off the game in the first half when they led 1-0, hitting the woodwork three times and wasting a bagful of other clear scoring chances.
Bremen’s Sebastian Proedl drilled in the equaliser in the 85th minute after Leverkusen had come back from 2-1 down to lead 3-2.
The hosts, who visit Monaco in their Champions League Group C opener next week, took a deserved lead through Croatian teenager Tino Jedvaj.
They did not manage to score again despite a constant wave of attacks whereas Bremen did it with their first chance of the game on the stroke of halftime when Fin Bartels completed a quick break with a good finish. With Leverkusen still dominating after the break, Bremen again struck against the run of play with Argentine Franco Di Santos scoring on the hour after yet another counter attack.
Hakan Calhanoglu’s superb curled free kick made it 2-2 before South Korean Son Heung-min shook off his marker at the edge of the box with a quick turn and fired in on 73 minutes. But Austrian Proedl spoiled Bremen’s hopes of a win with five minutes to go, scoring from close range with his shot bouncing in off the crossbar. (Agencies)
