Another Leverkusen late show seals another trophy
Bayer Leverkusen claimed its third trophy of the calendar year with a penalty shootout win over Stuttgart in the DFL Supercup after scoring a late equaliser to level the score at 2-2 after normal time to force penalties.
Xabi Alonso's side won the domestic double in 2023/2024, going unbeaten throughout the Bundesliga season.
It hit the front early in this match, new signing Aleix Garcia sending a cross to the back post that Edmond Tapsoba nodded back across goal for Victor Boniface to tap home in the 11th minute.
Stuttgart, which finished runner-up in the Bundesliga last season, drew level through Enzo Millot who swept home Maximilian Mittelstadt's cutback four minutes later.
Martin Terrier, newly signed for Leverkusen, sent panic through the home support after he was shown a red card on 37 minutes for a heavy challenge on Ermedin Demirovic.
Stuttgart too advantage of its numerical advantage in the second half when Deniz put the visitors 2-1 ahead, and the pressure continued to mount for Leverkusen as more chances fell the way of the visitors.
But as so often happened last season, Leverkusen refused to be beaten, and it was Patrik Schick that levelled with a neat finish two minutes from time to give the home support more reason to go wild for its seemingly unbeatable team.
That meant penalties would decide the match, and with Leverkusen perfect from the spot, a Lukas Hradecky save from Kratzig gave the hosts the advantage.
That turned to victory when Silas sent his spot-kick high over the bar to leave Leverkusen with more celebrating to do just a week out from the start of its Bundesliga title defence.
