Bayer 04 Leverkusen’s Karim Bellarabi hit the Bundesliga’s fastest-ever goal to help condemn title hopefuls Borussia Dortmund to a 2-0 defeat in their opening game on Saturday.
The Leverkusen attacker struck after just nine seconds and then set up Stefan Kiessling in injury time as the visitors won in Dortmund for the second season in a row.
Bellarabi’s strike was two seconds quicker than the previous record held by Bayern Munich’s Giovane Elber and Leverkusen’s Ulf Kirsten, both of whom scored in the 11th second of a Bundesliga game.
Photo: AFP
“My team did a lot right,” Leverkusen manager Roger Schmidt said. “We attacked our opponents early. We played a great game and at the end of the day we deserved to win.”
The visitors needed just three passes after the kick-off to find the net. Sebastian Boenisch picked out Bellarabi on the edge of the penalty area and he turned inside Matthias Ginter before firing beyond Mitchell Langerak.
Dortmund were shellshocked and Leverkusen gave them little time to find their rhythm. New recruit Hakan Calhanoglu drove a free-kick wide for Leverkusen before Boenisch screwed a shot well off target.
Last season’s runners-up improved after the interval, but Leno brilliantly saved a header from Ginter with six minutes left and denied Ciro Immobile a debut goal in the final minute of normal time.
Kiessling then sealed the win five minutes into stoppage time after Bellarabi won the ball from from Dortmund leftback Erik Durm.
Schalke 04 were dumped out of the German Cup by third-division Dynamo Dresden on Monday, but Klaas Jan-Huntelaar’s goal looked set to give them victory on Saturday at Hannover 96. Last season, the Dutch striker’s 12 goals helped Schalke finish third and he opened his account for the new campaign 90 seconds into the second half.
However, the home side leveled 20 minutes later, when Leonardo Bittencourt picked out Edgar Prib.
Two minutes later, Hannover got the winning goal when summer signing Joselu’s deflected shot nestled in the corner.
“I’m extremely angry,” Schalke 04 boss Jens Keller said of the 2-1 loss. “It’s incredibly annoying when you’re in control of a game and you lose it through two counter-attacks.”
Thomas Schaaf enjoyed his return to the Bundesliga as his Eintracht Frankfurt side beat visiting SC Freiburg 1-0.
Schaaf spent last season out of soccer after spending 14 years at Werder Bremen and a 15th-minute goal from Swiss striker Haris Seferovic gave him plenty to smile about.
Julian Schieber scored twice on his Hertha BSC debut, but the home side were held to a 2-2 draw against Werder Bremen. The former Borussia Dortmund forward headed Hertha into the lead after 16 minutes and then deservedly doubled their advantage early in the second half.
However, Assani Lukimya gave the visitors hope when he bundled home on 53 minutes, and two minutes later, Franco di Santo hauled Werder level.
TSG 1899 Hoffenheim also scored two goals in three minutes as they beat Augsburg 2-0. Hungarian striker Adam Szalai put them in front on 33 minutes after a goalmouth scramble. Tarik Elyounousssi then had another simple finish as Augsburg, who lost to fourth-tier Magdeburg in the German Cup, slumped to another defeat.
Meanwhile, chances were few and far between as newly promoted Cologne were held to a scoreless draw at home by big-spending Hamburg SV. On Friday, goals from Thomas Mueller and Arjen Robben helped defending champions Bayern Munich open with a 2-1 home win over VfL Wolfsburg.
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
HSIEH MAKES QUARTERS: Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens of Belgium won in the women’s doubles and face Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Sofia Kenin of the US Top-ranked Iga Swiatek and US Open champion Coco Gauff were knocked out of the women’s singles at the Miami Open on Monday, while Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei advanced in the women’s doubles. Swiatek lost to Ekaterina Alexandrova 6-4, 6-2, hours after third seed Gauff fell in three sets to No. 23 Caroline Garcia 6-3, 1-6, 6-2. Alexandrova beat a top-ranked player for the first time and advanced to face Jessica Pegula, a 7-6 (7/1), 6-3 winner over Emma Navarro, in the quarter-finals. Alexandrova recorded her second win over Swiatek, following a 2021 victory in Melbourne. Swiatek had won their three matches since. “We played quite