BERLIN (AP) — Bayern Munich won without playing on Saturday as Bundesliga rivals Bayer Leverkusen and Borussia Dortmund dropped points to modest opponents.
Dortmund slumped at Union Berlin to a 2-1 defeat without injured forward Karim Adeyemi, who starred in the team’s 7-1 rout of Celtic in the Champions League on Tuesday.
Click to Gallery
Leverkusen's Granit Xhaka reacts after his team failed to win the German Bundesliga soccer match between Bayer Leverkusen and Holstein Kiel at the BayArena in Leverkusen, Germany, Saturday, Oct. 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner)
Leverkusen's Florian Wirtz reacts disappointed after not winning the German Bundesliga soccer match between Bayer Leverkusen and Holstein Kiel at the BayArena in Leverkusen, Germany, Saturday, Oct. 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner)
Leverkusen's Piero Hincapie reacts beside Leverkusen's head coach Xabi Alonso after not winning the German Bundesliga soccer match between Bayer Leverkusen and Holstein Kiel at the BayArena in Leverkusen, Germany, Saturday, Oct. 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner)
Leverkusen's head coach Xabi Alonso reacts during the German Bundesliga soccer match between Bayer Leverkusen and Holstein Kiel at the BayArena in Leverkusen, Germany, Saturday, Oct. 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner)
Dortmund's Sebastien Haller talks to a referee during the Bundesliga soccer match between Union Berlin and Borussia Dortmund in Berlin, Germany, on Saturday, Oct. 5, 2024.(AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
Dortmund's Waldemar Anton, left, and Union's Benedict Hollerbach fight for the ball during the Bundesliga soccer match between Union Berlin and Borussia Dortmund in Berlin, Germany, on Saturday, Oct. 5, 2024.(AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
Union's Benedict Hollerbach, left, and Dortmund's Pascal Gross jump for the ball during the Bundesliga soccer match between Union Berlin and Borussia Dortmund in Berlin, Germany, on Saturday, Oct. 5, 2024.(AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
Berlin players celebrate after a goal during the Bundesliga soccer match between Union Berlin and Borussia Dortmund in Berlin, Germany, on Saturday, Oct. 5, 2024.(AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
Union's Kevin Vogt stops the ball in front of Dortmund's Julien Duranville during the Bundesliga soccer match between Union Berlin and Borussia Dortmund in Berlin, Germany, on Saturday, Oct. 5, 2024.(AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
Dortmund's Sebastien Haller, left, and Union's Christopher Trimmel jump for the ball during the Bundesliga soccer match between Union Berlin and Borussia Dortmund in Berlin, Germany, on Saturday, Oct. 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
Dortmund's Maximilian Beier outruns Union's Diogo Leite during the Bundesliga soccer match between Union Berlin and Borussia Dortmund in Berlin, Germany, on Saturday, Oct. 5, 2024.(AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
Defending champion Leverkusen squandered an early two-goal lead over promoted Holstein Kiel and drew 2-2. It was only Kiel’s second point in its debut top-flight season.
Leverkusen played in a special black jersey with red trim to commemorate the club’s 120th anniversary, and for Xabi Alonso it was also a special occasion – the Spanish coach took over exactly two years before.
Leverkusen fans didn’t have to wait long to celebrate after Victor Boniface opened the scoring in the fourth minute and Jonas Hofmann made it 2-0 four minutes after that. Leverkusen looked set for a rout.
But the home team failed to make more of its dominance — Boniface had another goal ruled out for offside — and Kiel secured a lifeline before the break when Max Geschwil scored after a corner. Fiete Arp scored an unlikely equalizer from the penalty spot in the 69th.
“I wouldn't say arrogance, but I'd say there's a bit a complacency. We need to stay concentrated, because we want to be a better team,” Alonso said. “We could win a few games, and not win a few games, up and down, but that's not our goal. Today we didn't have the best competitive mindset.”
Union illustrated early on against Dortmund why it’s the club with one of the most ineffective forward lines in the league. The Köpenick-based team had only four goals from its opening five games.
Former Union player Nico Schlotterbeck offered assistance by conceding a penalty with a foul on the lively Benedict Hollerbach, and Kevin Vogt duly scored the opener from the spot in the 25th.
The home team kept pushing and got its due reward before the break when Yorbe Vertessen let fly through a host of players for 2-0.
Early in the second half, masked Union ultras displayed an array of Dortmund scarves and banners presumably confiscated from their rivals before the game. They hung the tattered flags on the railings behind one of the goals and raised their fists, goading the Dortmund fans far away on the other side.
Former Union player Julien Ryerson responded on the field in the 62nd by firing inside the far post for 2-1, set up by Julian Brandt after a period of pressure from the visitors – but it wasn’t enough.
Also, Freiburg won at Werder Bremen 1-0, and Wolfsburg enjoyed a 3-1 win in Wolfsburg.
St. Pauli was playing Mainz later.
League leader Bayern visits second-placed Eintracht Frankfurt on Sunday.
Leverkusen's Granit Xhaka reacts after his team failed to win the German Bundesliga soccer match between Bayer Leverkusen and Holstein Kiel at the BayArena in Leverkusen, Germany, Saturday, Oct. 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner)
Leverkusen's Florian Wirtz reacts disappointed after not winning the German Bundesliga soccer match between Bayer Leverkusen and Holstein Kiel at the BayArena in Leverkusen, Germany, Saturday, Oct. 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner)
Leverkusen's Piero Hincapie reacts beside Leverkusen's head coach Xabi Alonso after not winning the German Bundesliga soccer match between Bayer Leverkusen and Holstein Kiel at the BayArena in Leverkusen, Germany, Saturday, Oct. 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner)
Leverkusen's head coach Xabi Alonso reacts during the German Bundesliga soccer match between Bayer Leverkusen and Holstein Kiel at the BayArena in Leverkusen, Germany, Saturday, Oct. 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner)
Dortmund's Sebastien Haller talks to a referee during the Bundesliga soccer match between Union Berlin and Borussia Dortmund in Berlin, Germany, on Saturday, Oct. 5, 2024.(AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
Dortmund's Waldemar Anton, left, and Union's Benedict Hollerbach fight for the ball during the Bundesliga soccer match between Union Berlin and Borussia Dortmund in Berlin, Germany, on Saturday, Oct. 5, 2024.(AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
Union's Benedict Hollerbach, left, and Dortmund's Pascal Gross jump for the ball during the Bundesliga soccer match between Union Berlin and Borussia Dortmund in Berlin, Germany, on Saturday, Oct. 5, 2024.(AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
Berlin players celebrate after a goal during the Bundesliga soccer match between Union Berlin and Borussia Dortmund in Berlin, Germany, on Saturday, Oct. 5, 2024.(AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
Union's Kevin Vogt stops the ball in front of Dortmund's Julien Duranville during the Bundesliga soccer match between Union Berlin and Borussia Dortmund in Berlin, Germany, on Saturday, Oct. 5, 2024.(AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
Dortmund's Sebastien Haller, left, and Union's Christopher Trimmel jump for the ball during the Bundesliga soccer match between Union Berlin and Borussia Dortmund in Berlin, Germany, on Saturday, Oct. 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
Dortmund's Maximilian Beier outruns Union's Diogo Leite during the Bundesliga soccer match between Union Berlin and Borussia Dortmund in Berlin, Germany, on Saturday, Oct. 5, 2024.(AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
MAGDEBURG, Germany (AP) — Germans began Saturday mourning another violent attack and their shaken sense of security after a Saudi doctor drove a black BMW into a Christmas market teeming with holiday shoppers on Friday evening, killing at least two people, including a small child, and injuring at least 60 others in what authorities called a deliberate attack.
Authorities identified the suspect as a 50-year-old who has been living in Germany for nearly two decades and practicing medicine there. He was arrested Friday evening at the site of the attack as medical officials tended to the injured, and was taken into custody for questioning.
But on Saturday there were still no answers as to what caused the man to drive into a crowd in the eastern Germany city of Magdeburg.
The violence shocked the country and the city, bringing its mayor to the verge of tears and marring a festive event that’s part of a centuries-old German tradition. It prompted several other German towns to cancel their weekend Christmas markets as a precaution and out of solidarity with Magdeburg’s loss.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Interior Minister Nancy Faeser were due to travel to Magdeburg on Saturday, and a memorial service is to take place in the city cathedral in the evening.
“My thoughts are with the victims and their relatives," Scholz wrote on X. "We stand beside them and beside the people of Magdeburg.”
Magdeburg is a city of about 240,000 people, west of Berlin, that serves as Saxony-Anhalt’s capital. Friday’s attack came eight years after an Islamic extremist drove a truck into crowded Christmas market in Berlin, killing 13 people and injuring many others. The attacker was killed days later in a shootout in Italy.
Verified bystander footage distributed by the German news agency dpa showed the suspect’s arrest at a tram stop in the middle of the road. A nearby police officer pointing a handgun at the man shouted at him as he lay prone, his head arched up slightly. Other officers soon arrived and took the man into custody.
The two people confirmed dead were an adult and a toddler, but officials said additional deaths couldn't be ruled out because 15 people had been seriously injured.
“As things stand, he is a lone perpetrator, so that as far as we know there is no further danger to the city," Saxony-Anhalt's governor, Reiner Haseloff, told reporters. “Every human life that has fallen victim to this attack is a terrible tragedy and one human life too many.”
Authorities identified the suspect as a 50-year-old Saudi doctor who moved to Germany in 2006 and who had been practicing medicine in Bernburg, about 40 kilometers (25 miles) south of Magdeburg.
Saudi Arabia’s foreign ministry condemned the attack on X but did not mention the suspect’s connection to the kingdom.
Christmas markets are a German holiday tradition cherished since the Middle Ages, now successfully exported to much of the Western world.
Hours after Friday's tragedy, the wail of sirens clashed with the market’s festive ornaments, stars and leafy garlands.
Magdeburg resident Dorin Steffen told dpa that she was at a concert in a nearby church when she heard the sirens. The cacophony was so loud “you had to assume that something terrible had happened.”
She called the attack “a dark day” for the city.
“We are shaking,” Steffen said. “Full of sympathy for the relatives, also in the hope that nothing has happened to our relatives, friends and acquaintances.”
The attack reverberated far beyond Magdeburg, with Haseloff calling it a catastrophe for the city, state and country. He said flags would be lowered to half-staff in Saxony-Anhalt and that the federal government planned to do the same.
“It is really one of the worst things one can imagine, particularly in connection with what a Christmas market should bring," the governor said.
Moulson reported from Berlin.
Security guards stand in front of a cordoned-off Christmas Market after a car crashed into a crowd of people, in Magdeburg, Germany, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
Emergency services work in a cordoned-off area near a Christmas Market, after a car drove into a crowd in Magdeburg, Germany, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
Emergency services work in a cordoned-off area near a Christmas Market, after a car drove into a crowd in Magdeburg, Germany, Friday, Dec. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
Emergency services work in a cordoned-off area near a Christmas Market, after a car drove into a crowd in Magdeburg, Germany, Friday, Dec. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
Reiner Haseloff, Minister President of Saxony-Anhalt, center, is flanked by Tamara Zieschang, Minister of the Interior and Sport of Saxony-Anhalt, left, and Simone Borris, Mayor of the City of Magdeburg, at a press conference after a car plowed into a busy outdoor Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany Friday, Dec. 20, 2024. (Hendrik Schmidt/dpa via AP)
Emergency services work in a cordoned-off area near a Christmas Market, after a car drove into a crowd in Magdeburg, Germany, Friday, Dec. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
Emergency services work in a cordoned-off area near a Christmas Market, after a car drove into a crowd in Magdeburg, Germany, Friday, Dec. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
Emergency services work in a cordoned-off area near a Christmas Market, after a car drove into a crowd in Magdeburg, Germany, Friday, Dec. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
A police officer guards at a blocked road near a Christmas Market, after an incident in Magdeburg, Germany, Friday, Dec. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
Emergency services attend an incident at the Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany, Friday Dec. 20, 2024. (Dörthe Hein/dpa via AP)
Emergency services attend an incident at the Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany, Friday Dec. 20, 2024. (Heiko Rebsch/dpa via AP)
Emergency services attend an incident at the Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany, Friday Dec. 20, 2024. (Heiko Rebsch/dpa via AP)
A police officer guards at a cordoned-off area near a Christmas Market after an incident in Magdeburg, Germany, Friday, Dec. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
In this screen grab image from video, special police forces attend an incident at the Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany, Friday Dec. 20, 2024. (Thomas Schulz/dpa via AP)
Reiner Haseloff (M, CDU), Minister President of Saxony-Anhalt, makes a statement after an incident at the Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany, Friday Dec. 20, 2024. (Heiko Rebsch/dpa via AP)
A police officer speaks with a man at a cordoned-off area near a Christmas Market after an incident in Magdeburg, Germany, Friday, Dec. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
A policeman is seen at the Christmas market where an incident happened in Magdeburg, Germany, Friday Dec. 20, 2024. (Heiko Rebsch/dpa via AP)
A firefighter walks through a cordoned-off area near a Christmas Market, after a car drove into a crowd in Magdeburg, Germany, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
Emergency services work in a cordoned-off area near a Christmas Market, after an incident in Magdeburg, Germany, Friday, Dec. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
A view of the cordoned-off Christmas market after an incident in Magdeburg, Germany, Friday Dec. 20, 2024. (Heiko Rebsch/dpa via AP)
A police officer guards at a blocked road near a Christmas market after an incident in Magdeburg, Germany, Friday, Dec. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
The car that was crashed into a crowd of people at the Magdeburg Christmas market is seen following the attack in Magdeburg, Germany, Saturday early morning, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
Security guards stand in front of a cordoned-off Christmas Market after a car crashed into a crowd of people, in Magdeburg, Germany, Saturday early morning, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
Security guards stand in front of a cordoned-off Christmas Market after a car crashed into a crowd of people, in Magdeburg, Germany, Saturday early morning, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
The car that was crashed into a crowd of people at the Magdeburg Christmas market is seen following the attack in Magdeburg, Germany, Saturday early morning, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
Forensics work on a damaged car sitting with its doors open after a driver plowed into a busy Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany, early Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (Hendrik Schmidt/dpa via AP)
