Ten Hag's Leverkusen lose, Frankfurt win, Dortmund held

Coach Erik ten Hag had a losing Bundesliga debut when his new-look Bayer Leverkusen crashed 2-1 at home against Hoffenheim in their season opener on Saturday.

Eintracht Frankfurt beat Werder Bremen 4-1, and 10-man Borussia Dortmund were held 3-3 at St Pauli after conceding twice late in the game and missing a penalty.

Hoffenheim's Fisnik Asllani in the 25th and Tim Lemperle in the 52nd reversed Jarell Quansah's early lead for the 2024 champions Leverkusen, who suffered a summer exodus from coach Xabi Alonso to key players Florian Wirtz, Granit Xhaka and Jonathan Tah.

It was not the start former Ajax and Manchester United coach Ten Hag had hoped for but it highlighted the difficulty of his task.

"We will work to do things better (in the next match against Bremen)," Ten Hag told Sky TV. "It will take time. Sometimes it clicks but it requires a lot of hard work."

Captain Robert Andrich said: "Regardless of new players or not, we allowed too much. We should have the ambition to win the game and Hoffenheim go home with three deserved points."

Frankfurt finished a strong third last season behind Bayern Munich and Leverkusen, and got off to an impressive start with the victory over Bremen from a Jean-Mattéo Bahoya brace, Can Uzun and Ansgar Knauff.

"It was great start and we are all very happy. We want to give our best and play a good season again," youngster Uzun told Sky TV. "I had a good goal, want to continue like this and improve in every match."

Fourth-place finishers Dortmund seemed on course when they led 3-1 at St Pauli after 74 minutes from Serhou Guirassy, who also failed from the spot, Waldemar Anton and Julian Brandt.

But Danel Sinani converted a penalty in the 86th after Filippo Mané had pulled down Abdoulie Ceesay and was sent off for it; and Eric Smith then drilled home an 89th minute equalizer.

"The penalty made the difference. They then took the wind out of our sails. We must handle this better. We have to learn not to play with one man down at crucial stages," Brandt said.

Wins for Union, Wolfsburg, Augsburg

Elsewhere, Union Berlin beat German Cup winners VfB Stuttgart 2-1 from Alyas Ansah's brace from two stunners. Stuttgart's Germany forward and Bayern target Nick Woltemade had a late equalizer nullified for offside after Tiago Tomas had pulled one back.

Wolfsburg had a winning 3-1 start at Heidenheim under new coach Paul Simonis. Another new helmsman is former national team assistant coach Sandro Wagner, whose Augsburg side won for the first time since 2014 in Freiburg, also 3-1.

On Sunday, promoted Cologne and SV Hamburg visit Mainz and Borussia Mönchengladbach, respectively.

Champions Bayern routed RB Leipzig 6-0 in Friday's league opener for an early statement of intent.

Leverkusen slip up

In Leverkusen, Lemperle struck the post early but Leverkusen then drew first blood in the sixth minute when former Liverpool defender Quansah, one of three new arrivals in the starting 11, nodded home off Alejandro Grimaldo's free-kick.

But Hoffenheim, whose squad also saw a major summer overhaul with seven new players in their starting line-up, were undeterred and level in the 25th from Asllani's tight angle effort into the roof of the net.

It got worse for the hosts when Lemperle found the bottom left corner from a distance for 2-1 after Asllani had controlled the ball against two defenders and laid it back to him.

Leverkusen were unable to fight back, with Nathan Tella hitting the side-netting and Piero Hancapie aiming high, as Hoffenheim got an early boost after fighting against relegation last term.

Frankfurt make strong start

Frankfurt goalkeeper Michael Zetterer had played for Bremen just a week ago before a switch after Kevin Trapp's departure, and now faced his former club.

Another newcomer for the hosts, Jonathan Burkardt, hit the post four minutes into the game, before Uzun opened the scoring into the top left corner in the 22nd.

Three minutes later Uzun delicately chipped the ball to Bahoya to nod the second.

Bahoya struck again for 3-0 right after the restart when Bremen lost the ball deep in their half. Zetterer was beaten by Justin Njinmah a minute later in the 48th, but substitute Knauff restored the three-goal lead with 20 minutes left.

Dortmund squander lead

In Hamburg, Guirassy headed Dortmund ahead in the 34th but missed a second three minutes later when goalkeeper Nikola Vasilj saved his penalty awarded when Smith tripped Karim Adeyemi. It was Vasilj's fifth save from six Bundesliga penalties against him.

The hosts were level five minutes after the restart from Andréas Hountondji's header.

Dortmund responded from Anton's deflected shot and a classy Brandt effort for 3-1 with 16 minutes left but their run of matchday one wins in a row ended at 10 because St Pauli had the last laugh.