Leverkusen defeats Leipzig in Bundesliga opener, Stuttgart enjoys 5-0 rout without Endo

BERLIN (AP) — Jeremie Frimpong scored one goal and set up another for Bayer Leverkusen to defeat Leipzig 3-2 in their opening game of the Bundesliga on Saturday.

Victor Boniface, making his league debut after his transfer from Belgium’s Royale Union Saint-Gilloise, set up Frimpong for the opener in the 24th minute.

Jonathan Tah headed the second from a corner in the 35th, only for Dani Olmo to reply in likewise fashion for Leipzig five minutes later.

Leipzig coach Marco Rose tried to shake things up with three changes in the 62nd, but Florian Wirtz scored two minutes later for Leverkusen with a wonderful lob over goalkeeper Janis Blaswich, in off the crossbar following a fine team move involving Frimpong and Odilon Kossounou.

Belgian striker Loïs Openda responded in the 71st with his first Bundesliga goal for Leipzig, but coach Xabi Alonso’s team stayed cool to see out the win.

Stuttgart showed no ill-effect from losing captain Wataru Endo to Liverpool the previous day as both Serhou Guirassy and Silas Katompa Mvumpa scored twice in a 5-0 rout of visiting Bochum.

Promoted Heidenheim slumped to a 2-0 loss at Wolfsburg on its Bundesliga debut. The visitor got off to a bad start when Jonas Wind scored in the sixth minute. The Danish forward grabbed his second in the 27th.

Tomáš Čvančara scored a late penalty to rescue a 4-4 draw for Borussia Mönchengladbach at Augsburg. The home team had come from two goals down to lead until Čvančara equalized in the seventh minute of injury time.

Also, Freiburg defeated Hoffenheim 2-1 away.

Borussia Dortmund, last season’s runner-up, was started its league campaign against visiting Cologne late.

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