It took all of nine seconds and three passes for Karim Bellarabi to start Bayer Leverkusen’s season on the … right foot.
Bellarabi, 24, scored the fastest goal in the history of Germany’s Bundesliga (first division) on Saturday when he gave Bayer Leverkusen an early lead against Borussia Dortmund in the teams’ opening game of the 2014-15 season.
Leverkusen kicked off the game and made three quick passes forward, the last of which reached Bellarabi 30 yards away from Dortmund’s goal. Bellarabi then dribbled through Dortmund defender Matthias Ginter and beat goalkeeper Mitch Langerak with a sliding shot.
Three players had previously held the record for the fastest goal in 52 years of Bundesliga soccer. Bayern Munich’s Giovane Elber (in January 1998 against Hamburg), Leverkusen’s Ulf Kirsten (against Kaiserslautern in March 2002) and VFL Bochum’s Paul Freier (against 1860 Munich in May 2003), each scored 11 seconds after kickoff.
Bellarabi bettered their time by two seconds.
“I am really happy for Bellarabi,” Leverkusen sporting director Rudi Voeller said, according to the BBC. “This record is great for him. We did absolutely everything right in that first half and so did he.”
Leverkusen held off Dortmund’s attempts at a comeback and doubled its lead in the fifth minute of stoppage time when Stefan Kiessling scored.
How’s that for symmetry?
