Late strikes seal Schalke success

By Mark Bennett

FC Schalke came from a goal behind to claim a 2-1 home victory against 1. FC Kaiserslautern with two goals in the final eleven minutes.

Debut joy
Last season's Bundesliga runners-up looked set to open their season with a defeat after falling behind to a first-half strike from Halil Altintop, but Søren Larsen came to Schalke's rescue with a goal on his debut in the 79th minute, four minutes after coming on as a substitute. Kaiserslautern failed to deal with a Levan Kobiashvili cross and the Danish international took advantage to level the scores with a perfect finish.

Krstajic decisive
The visitors suffered further heartbreak when Schalke struck again three minutes later to seal maximum points. Hamit Altintop, brother of Kaiserslautern scorer Halil, found Mladen Krstajic with a cross from the right wing and the defender headed in the winning goal from close range.

Bayer comeback
In Sunday's other match, Bayer 04 Leverkusen took all three points from their trip to newly promoted Eintracht Frankfurt. Aleksandar Vasoski gave the home side an early lead but goals from Dimitar Berbatov, Andrej Voronin, Bernd Schneider and Jacek Krzynowek ensured that Leverkusen started their campaign in style.