Football
2014-15 German Bundesliga, 2014/2015 German Bundesliga
B04 
2
FT
 SCP
2
PA Sport 9y

Bayer Leverkusen 2-2 SC Paderborn 07

Karim Bellarabi celebrated his first Germany call-up with a last-minute equaliser to salvage a 2-2 draw for Bayer Leverkusen at home to plucky Paderborn.
Paderborn looked to have snatched a memorable win when Moritz Stoppelkamp put them 2-1 ahead with three minutes remaining but Bellarabi, who on Thursday was called up by national team coach Joachim Low for the first time, levelled right at the death for Roger Schmidt's men.
Earlier, Suleyman Koc had given Paderborn a 20th-minute lead with Lars Bender drawing the sides level just before the break.
With two defeats on the spin, it appeared Bundesliga newcomers Paderborn's early-season bubble had burst ahead of their trip to the BayArena.
Each game they play in the top flight of German football is being referred to as a bonus on their club's website, and the East Westphalians once again showed they want to enjoy their time in the Bundesliga for as long as it lasts.
They were certainly enjoying themselves in the 20th minute when Bernd Leno raced out of the Leverkusen goal but completely missed the ball, allowing Koc to put the visitors in front.
Leno had not learnt from his mistake and, in a style similar to Bayern's Manuel Neuer, he came off his line again to head the ball out for a throw-in when another mistake would have gifted Elias Kachunga the second.
Leverkusen subsequently appeared to want to keep the ball as far away from Leno as possible, and the tactic worked.
Just before the break, Bellarabi tested Lukas Kruse, who could only parry the ball out to Bender, who reacted quickest to bring Leverkusen level.
Given the number of chances, a draw at the interval was probably a fair result, but neither side was going to settle for a point in the second 45 minutes.
Kruse turned Bellarabi's shot over the crossbar before Bender missed the target, but Paderborn's fearless approach ensured they kept Leverkusen on their toes at the other end, most frequently with Stoppelkamp and Kachunga.
When Leverkusen started to look for a winner with even more intent, they were caught out as Stoppelkamp raced through, nudged the ball past Leno and then tucked it in.
It was not enough for all three points, though, as Bellarabi levelled from Robbie Kruse's cross at the death, denying Paderborn another major scalp in their maiden Bundesliga campaign.
ends

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