Elversberg beat Bayer Leverkusen 3:2 in the Bundesliga on Friday evening at the Ursarfm-Arena an der Kaiserlinde. The hosts took the lead through Lukas Petkov in the eighth minute before Cole Campbell fired back for Leverkusen just a minute later. David Mokwa equalised for Elversberg right after the break, and the match stayed balanced until Christian Kofane's late winner.
Campbell's goal came so quickly that Leverkusen thought they had turned things around, but Elversberg held their shape. Maximilian Rohr picked up a yellow card in the twenty-ninth minute, and Campbell himself was booked forty-one minutes in. The visitors dominated possession with sixty-seven per cent but failed to create much of a threat in the first half.
Mokwa's goal in the forty-sixth minute shifted the momentum. Leverkusen pushed for a response and brought on Loic Bade, Ignacio Agustín Fernández, and Lucas Vázquez all at once in the fifty-fifth minute. They also saw Francis Onyeka, Cole Campbell, and Malik Tillman come on for the second half, but Elversberg's defence kept them in it.
Patrik Schick restored parity for Leverkusen in the seventy-seventh minute. The match opened up after that, and Elversberg played the second half a man up in spirit if not numbers. Facundo Medina was cautioned for Leverkusen in the seventy-eighth minute, and Nicolas Kristof picked up a yellow for the hosts near the end.
The statistics tell you where the game was won and lost. Elversberg registered six shots on target from eight inside the penalty area, while Leverkusen managed only four shots on target despite thirteen attempts inside the box. Leverkusen created six big chances against two for the hosts, yet the visitors' expected goals of 1.88 did not translate into more than one goal.
Elversberg now sit fourth with three points from their opening game, having won three of their last five matches including a 3:1 victory over MSV Duisburg. Leverkusen remain sixth after thirty-four matches with fifty-nine points, but this result means they have lost their chance to close the gap at the top.
