Gladbach secure late draw in Leverkusen

The first Rhine Derby of the season was a clash between two coaches who weren’t at their respective clubs at the start of the season. Thanks to Alejandro Grimaldo’s free-kicks, Kasper Hjulmand won his Bundesliga debut against Eintracht Frankfurt before a hard-fought point in Copenhagen.

Meanwhile, Eugen Polanski replaced Gerardo Seoane as an interim coach at Borussia Mönchengladbach. The visitors started the game on a positive note, and they thought they took the lead through Jens Castrop in the 23rd minute.

The new signing was denied what would have been a fine first goal of the season for Gladbach due to an offside prior to the finish. Four minutes later, VAR was on hand once again when Loïc Bade needed treatment after a strong play by Shūto Machino. Luckily for Gladbach, the Japanese attacker didn’t even see a yellow card.

Tensions were high at the closing stages of the half, with Badé among the two players to be cautioned. That continued with Eliesse Ben Seghir and Joe Scally also goes to the referee’s book after a disagreement early in the second-half.

Hjulmand introduced Ernest Poku and Axel Tape for the final half-hour, and the changes really affected the proceedings. The scrappy game edges towards the hosts as they push for a winning goal against the team struggling in the early season.

In the end, it was their big-money signing who made the difference. Malick Tillman scored from Poku’s delivery to break the deadlock twenty minutes from time. The US International didn’t participate in preseason, but he scored his second goal of the season in only three appearances.

Both coaches made plenty of substitutions in the final stages of the game, including Jonas Hofmann coming on to face his old club. Gladbach pushed for a late equalizer, but they were unable to test Mark Flekken until Haris Tabaković’s dramatic equaliser.