European football: Elversberg stun Leverkusen in dream Bundesliga debut

The Bundesliga newcomers Elversberg began their first top-flight campaign in style, stunning Bayer Leverkusen with an impressive 3-2 home victory on Saturday.

Lukas Petkov and Cole Campbell scored within 60 seconds of each other to put Elversberg 2-0 up before the 10-minute mark. David Mokwa added another early in the second half in front of 9,307 delirious fans.

Patrik Schick and Christian Kofane pulled late goals back, but it was not enough to prevent a famous victory for Elversberg, as they embarrassed a team who won the title in 2024 without losing a game.

The town of Elversberg has a population of just 13,000, making it the smallest settlement to have ever hosted a Bundesliga side. Their ground, the Ursapharm-Arena, has a reduced capacity while upgrades are made to meet the German top flight’s stadium criteria.

“It’s an indescribable day,” the Elversberg captain, Lukas Pinckert, told Sky. “We worked hard to earn the right to play in this league. The victory is deserved. I am incredibly proud of the team.”

Leverkusen looked disorganised and lacked energy until late on, showing new coach Carles Martínez Novell that he has work to do. The Spaniard took over from Kasper Hjulmand in the summer after leaving his previous role at Ligue 1 side Toulouse.

RB Leipzig cruised to a 3-0 home win over Borussia Mönchengladbach , with the former Chelsea and France forward Christopher Nkunku setting up a goal on his return to the club.

Ridle Baku’s first-half goal came against the run of play for Leipzig but the hosts took control when Antonio Nusa produced a stunning finish early in the second half. Nkunku came on midway through the second half and set up a goal for the former Gladbach forward Rocco Reitz just two minutes later.

Union Berlin came from 3-1 down to draw 3-3 with Eintracht Frankfurt , cancelling out Younes Ebnoutalib’s hat-trick for the visitors. Union’s Tim Skarke scored in the third minute of stoppage time to level things up for the hosts.

The Cologne substitute Thijs Dallinga scored two goals and young winger Said El Mala scored a dazzling solo effort as the hosts came from behind twice to beat Hoffenheim 3-2. Elsewhere, Mainz played out a scoreless draw at home to promoted Paderborn .

Juventus saw off Parma 2-0 to make it back-to-back wins at the start of the Serie A season, while Fiorentina ’s celebrations of the club’s 100th anniversary were spoilt by a 3-0 home defeat by promoted Frosinone .

Juve had to work hard for their three points, needing second-half goals from the substitutes Nicolás González and Teun Koopmeiners to secure the victory.

The close-season signings Randal Kolo Muani and Jhon Lucumi both started, while 18-year-old Bosnian Kerim Alajbegovic had an impact after coming off the bench to make his debut.

In Florence, club legends, including Gabriel Batistuta and Claudio Ranieri were in attendance, only to see Fiorentina fail to bounce back from their 4-0 thrashing at Roma last weekend in their opener. Antonio Raimondo netted twice for the visitors, with Gabriele Bracaglia also on the scoresheet.