Granit Xhaka praised his team’s “pure mentality” as Florian Wirtz’s goal in the 11th minute of stoppage time gave reigning champions Bayer Leverkusen a 3-2 win at Borussia Mönchengladbach in their Bundesliga opener on Friday.

At half-time, Leverkusen were on course for success after a dream goal from Xhaka and a goal from Wirtz gave Xabi Alonso’s team a two-goal lead.

In pouring rain at Gladbach’s Borussia Park, Nico Elvedi brought the hosts closer to the goal with a goal in the 59th minute, before new signing Tim Kleindienst equalised five minutes from time.

A delay in the second half, when the home fans lit flares in the stands, meant a long period of stoppage time. In the 10th minute of this stoppage time, Ko Itakura brushed Amine Adli’s foot in the penalty area, which led to Wirtz stepping up to the penalty spot.

Wirtz’s attempt was blocked, but the German midfielder hammered the follow-up shot into the goal and his team once again secured a late victory.

Leverkusen earned a reputation for saving games with last-minute goals during their incredible run last season, and Friday’s strike was officially the latest goal in league history.

“We started well in the first half and were dominant. We said at halftime that we didn’t want to let them get back into the game,” Xhaka told DAZN.

“They came back, but we showed our pure mentality again and can take the three points from a difficult away game back to Leverkusen.”

Leverkusen coach Alonso was speechless.

“I have no explanation for it. That’s football. It’s happened to us many times.”

Wirtz, 21, said he was “happy” to have taken responsibility for the penalty and said he wanted to “decide the game”.

“I know it was a bit of luck in the end, but I don’t want to complain. We are happy that we won in the end.”

“We made it a little difficult for ourselves. There are still a lot of things we need to work on, but we can be happy that we got the three points today.”

After an unbeaten league and cup double last season, Leverkusen added another title last Saturday by beating Stuttgart on penalties to win the German Supercup.

Gladbach, a fallen giant who narrowly avoided relegation last season, suffered a setback just before kick-off when star midfielder Manu Kone was left out of the squad due to an impending move away from the club.

Leverkusen midfielder Xhaka put an early end to the game when he left Gladbach goalkeeper Jonas Omlin no chance with a brilliant long-range shot in the 13th minute.

The attempt was a mirror image of the Swiss captain’s goal in Leverkusen’s 1-0 DFB Cup final win over Kaiserslautern in May.

Xhaka, who spent four years at Gladbach before joining Arsenal, raised his hands in the air and refused to celebrate the goal against his former club.

The blond-haired Wirtz increased Leverkusen’s lead to 2-0 in the 38th minute with a shot from a turn in a crowded penalty area.

Shortly before half-time, Kleindienst seemingly had the chance to score another goal for the hosts, but the former Heidenheim striker’s attempt was disallowed after being reviewed by the video referee.

Gladbach’s Elvedi, who had lost possession shortly before Xhaka’s opening goal, redeemed himself for the hosts by heading in a rebound 14 minutes into the second half to reduce Leverkusen’s lead.

Shortly before the end, Kleindienst equalized by overcoming a sloppy defense from Edmond Tapsoba and firing the ball into the net.

In the last minute of injury time, Adli fell to the ground in the penalty area and after a review by the video referee, Wirtz was awarded a penalty.

Omlin blocked the low shot, but Wirtz was first to the rebound and sunk it into the goal, giving his team three points to defend their title.

The league opening game on Friday, in which the defending champions take part, was the first without Bayern Munich since 2013.