Bayer Leverkusen must show more aggression – Alonso

Xabi Alonso asked for more character and aggression from his Bayer Leverkusen side after their last-gasp 3-2 win over Borussia Monchengladbach in the Bundesliga opener.

Leverkusen were awarded a penalty deep into added time on Friday, with Florian Wirtz converting on the rebound to earn the visitors the three points.

Granit Xhaka lashed Leverkusen into the lead with a stunning strike in the 12th minute.

Wirtz extended Leverkusen’s lead but Gladbach hit back through Nico Elvedi and Tim Kleindienst before the late drama.

“It was an intense first Bundesliga game for us. A lot of things happened in the second half, it was full of emotion right to the end. We did well in many phases,” Alonso said.

“But we weren’t always so compact today, we were also a bit passive in some phases. We have to do that better. We have to be more aggressive.

“It’s difficult to explain why we always score late goals. We can’t train that and I can’t influence it. It’s the mentality of the team.”

1 – Florian Wirtz is the 5th Leverkusen player after Christian Schreier, Ulf Kirsten, Bernd Schneider and Stefan Kießling, to score in two consecutive opening matches of a Bundesliga campaign. Start. pic.twitter.com/kCM2VM46tk

— OptaFranz (@OptaFranz) August 23, 2024

Champions Leverkusen, who set a European record of 51 consecutive games without loss across all competitions last season, kept their unbeaten streak intact with a number of late equalisers.

“We said at half-time that we must not let up and not think that the game is over,” said Xhaka.

“At the end of the first half, we started not being consistent enough in our passing game and losing easy balls. Here at home, Gladbach never die, you could see that in the goals at 1-2 and 2-2.”

Wirtz became the fifth Leverkusen player to score in successive opening games of a Bundesliga season.

He added: “I had the feeling that we made it unnecessarily difficult for ourselves.

“We were asleep when it came to conceding goals. We let it slip away ourselves, even though we were actually in control, although we didn’t have the ball the whole time.

“I just wanted to decide the game. I know that in the end it will be a lucky win. (But) we are happy that we won and that I was able to score the follow-up shot.”