Substitute Jens Hegeler curled home a brilliant
injury-time free-kick to snatch a 2-1 victory for Bayer Leverkusen over Real
Sociedad in Champions League Group A.
Hegeler struck in the second minute of stoppage time to
secure an eighth successive win for Sami Hyypia's men at the BayArena after the
visitors had come within seconds of claiming a first point of the Champions
League campaign.
Former Arsenal frontman Carlos Vela had earlier fired
home from close range after keeper Bernd Leno had saved his 51st-minute
penalty, in the process cancelling out Bayer skipper Simon Rolfes' opener in
first-half injury time.
The home side started brightly and Real goalkeeper
Claudio Bravo was called upon for the first time with less than three minutes
gone when he had to get down well at his near post to parry Son Heung-Min's
left-foot shot.
Bravo came to the rescue once again with 21 minutes gone
to keep out Rolfes' deflected snapshot, but the Spaniards enjoyed a let-off
from the resulting corner when striker Stefan Kiessling met Sidney Sam's cross
in front of goal, but glanced his header wide.
Opposite number Bernd Leno was almost caught out by
Antoine Griezmann's 24th-minute free-kick, and he had to race from his penalty
area 13 minutes before the break to head clear from Haris Seferovic as he
threatened to latch on to a through-ball.
Real were starting to make their presence felt and Leno
managed to beat away a long-range 34th-minute effort from Gorka Elustondo, but
Son smashed a rising drive just wide of the upright at the other end three
minutes later.
Kiessling went close for the Germans with two minutes of
the half remaining when he blocked Mikel Gonzalez's attempted clearance, only
to fire across the face of goal.
But Rolfes finally made the breakthrough with seconds of
the first half remaining when he forced another save from Bravo with a bullet
header, but then followed up to stab the rebound home.
However, the visitors were level within six minutes of
the restart when defender Roberto Hilbert was adjudged to have tripped Vela
inside the area and although Leno dived low to his left to save the striker's
spot-kick, he scored at the second attempt.
Vela passed up a glorious opportunity to put his side
ahead after being played in by David Zurutuza's superb 61st-minute pass, with
Leno making a vital block.
Bayer substitute Robbie Kruse was guilty of failing to
make the most of a gilt-edged chance as time ran down, but Hegeler spared his
blushes when he despatched his last-gasp effort into the top corner.
Culled from Skysports
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