Hoffenheim spoiled Erik ten Hag’s Bundesliga debut as Bayer Leverkusen coach by coming from behind to defeat his team 2-1 in Leverkusen 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.
“It’s tough because there’s a lot of new relationships forming and so it’s hard to build that rhythm exactly in the first game,” Quansah said. “It’s not the end of the world that we’re not exactly where we want to be.
“It’s the first game of the season and we’ve got to understand that it’s going to come with time.”
Ten Hag, who was fired by Manchester United last season, was just one of four coaches making their Bundesliga debuts with new teams — six altogether this weekend.
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.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
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