Alejandro Grimaldo scored from two free kicks and Bayer Leverkusen beat in-form Eintracht Frankfurt 3-1 to record their first Bundesliga win and give coach Kasper Hjulmand a winning start to his reign on Friday.
Hjulmand has led Leverkusen for only a few days after Erik ten Hag was sacked just two games into the season.
The morale-boosting victory came despite Leverkusen playing the last half hour with 10 men following the dismissal of captain Robert Andrich. Teammate Ezequiel Fernández was also sent off in stoppage time.
“I’m very proud of the boys. I think they were so very tough and very difficult to beat,” Hjulmand said. “We wanted this win so badly. It’s difficult to play [with] 10 [men], it’s difficult to play with nine, but so much character, so much power. And also so much quality.
“We want to improve; there’s a lot of things we can do better. But altogether I think we showed that character and spirit. And after a difficult start for the club, this was what we needed to get a lot of energy and a lot of belief in what we do. So, we are very happy tonight.”
They started fast. Grimaldo curled in a beautiful free kick with only 10 minutes on the clock.
Patrik Schick‘s penalty made it 2-0 on the stroke of half time after Nathan Tella was brought down by Frankfurt captain Robert Koch.
“He is really sympathetic,” Schick said of new coach Hjulmand. “I think he’s very straight, and he gave us the simple things. And now, of course, with more time we start to add more and more things … We couldn’t start better with the new coach.”
Can Uzun threatened to dampen the home fans’ optimism when he made it 2-1 early in the second half but no comeback materialised even after Andrich’s dismissal for a second bookable offense in the 59th minute.
The hosts went close to a third goal through defender Nnamdi Collins‘ shot, which hit the crossbar, before Grimaldo struck his second deep in stoppage time via another superb free kick.
“I don’t know. I’m really happy to help the team. I work on the free kicks for many years,” Grimaldo said. “This is the result. I’m very proud of myself to help the team with these two goals and to win the game.”
Relief swept the BayArena following a tumultuous start to the season.
Ten Hag was chosen to rebuild the squad after a summer exodus in the wake of coach Xabi Alonso’s departure for Real Madrid. Few players remain from the Bundesliga and German Cup champions in 2024.
However, the experienced Dutchman was unable to stamp his authority on players who ignored his instructions and argued among themselves in a 3-3 draw with Werder Bremen on Aug. 30.
He was fired and replaced with Hjulmand, who had just two trainings to prepare his charges to face Frankfurt, a team whose record after two league games was bettered only by Bayern Munich.
The former Denmark coach — whose previous experience in the Bundesliga was a short and unsatisfactory stint in charge of Mainz in 2014-15 — had been out of work for more than a year since Denmark’s last-16 exit at the European Championship.
“I’m here to help them,” Hjulmand said. “I’m here to help the team, I’m here to help the individuals … because they play; I don’t play. So it’s not what I say. I try to help the team to grow and take responsibility and look at each other.
“It’s the players. They should have the praise for this match, because they play the game. The game belongs to the players.”
Information from The Associated Press and PA was used in this report.
