Hakan Calhanoglu's free kick earned Bayer Leverkusen a 1-0 victory against Hannover as they made it two wins from the opening two games of the Bundesliga season.
It could have been a very different scoreline had Hannover taken an early opportunity which fell to Charlison Benschop, whose strike from the edge of the box was pushed past the post by Bernd Leno.
Hannover were made to regret the miss even more just three minutes later when Calhanoglu stepped up to find the top corner with a stunning free kick.
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The visitors were gifted a chance to double the lead when Marcelo's mistake allowed Stefan Kiessling to set up Admir Mehmedi for a shot which was fired straight at Ron-Robert Zieler.
Leverkusen appeared comfortable for much of the first half, but there was a worrying moment at the back when Bernd Leno was forced to push the ball to safety after failing to collect in a congested box.
After watching him produce a moment of magic early on, Hannover's supporters were left breathing a sigh of relief just after the interval when Calhanoglu rattled the crossbar with another free kick.
A fightback from the hosts always appeared unlikely as Leverkusen continued to attack in numbers, and only a fine stop from Zieler prevented Roberto Hilbert from adding a second for his side.
However, the visitors survived a scare in the closing stages when Christian Schulz miscued an effort straight at a grateful Leno.
Callum Mulvihill
