Leverkusen slumps to defeat at home to Hoffenheim in Ten Hag’s Bundesliga debut as coach

By Canadian Press on August 23, 2025.

BERLIN (AP) — Hoffenheim spoiled Erik ten Hag’s Bundesliga debut as Bayer Leverkusen coach by coming from behind to defeat his team 2-1 at home on Saturday.

Tim Lemperle scored the visitors’ winner early in the second half to get a new look Leverkusen after a summer of change off to a disappointing start.

Ten Hag, who took over from the Real Madrid-bound Xabi Alonso, had three new signings in his starting lineup including goalkeeper Mark Flekken, young forward Ibrahim Maza, and defender Jarell Quansah.

The latter headed Leverkusen into an early lead, but Fisnik Asllani leveled in the 25th and turned provider for Lemperle in the 52nd.

The summer departures of key Leverkusen players like Florian Wirtz, Granit Xhaka, Jeremie Frimpong and former captain Jonathan Tah was evident as the home team failed to mount a response.

Ten Hag was just one of four coaches making their Bundesliga debuts with new teams.

Former Germany assistant Sandro Wagner got off to a dream start with his Augsburg team winning 3-1 in Freiburg, while Paul Simonis also had an opening win with Wolfsburg beating Heidenheim 3-1 away.

Horst Steffen’s Werder Bremen lost 4-1 at Eintracht Frankfurt, whose goalkeeper, Michael Zetterer, made his debut against his former teammates three days after switching between the sides.

In the Berlin borough of Köpenick, Ilyas Ansah scored two goals on his Bundesliga debut for Union Berlin to beat Stuttgart 2-1.

Borussia Dortmund was starting its league campaign at Hamburg-club St. Pauli later.

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AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer

Ciarán Fahey, The Associated Press