Pierre Lees-Melou earns Brest a point against Bayer Leverkusen

Pierre Lees-Melou marked his Champions League debut in style with the equaliser in Brest’s 1-1 draw with Bayer Leverkusen at Stade du Roudourou.

It was the visitors who struck first in the 24th minute through Florian Wirtz, who nearly doubled their advantage moments later.

Lees-Melou’s brilliant volley levelled proceedings after 39 minutes, while a potential late second-half penalty for the visitors was waived after a VAR check.

Both sides entered the contest hoping to make it a perfect three wins from their opening three Champions League matches, but had to settle for the stalemate despite chances for both after the break.

The evening got off to a rapid start when Lees-Melou intervened with a big block to deny Aleix Garcia’s attempt following good work from Wirtz.

Wirtz had a chance of his own from Nathan Tella’s delivery and Jonas Hofmann curled an effort wide shortly afterwards before the former fired Leverkusen into the lead.

The visitors worked their way forward, with the ball eventually finding its way to the feet of Hofmann who picked out Wirtz with a pinpoint touch and the 21-year-old finished low past Marco Bizot from just outside the penalty area.

Wirtz nearly doubled his side’s lead on the half-hour but this time saw his effort saved by the Brest shot-stopper.

Romain Del Castillo looked to level, firing wide with one of the hosts’ first opportunities in the 38th minute, before Lees-Melou squared things up a minute later, volleying home from Mahdi Camara’s delivery.

The contest almost took a dramatic turn when, shortly before the end of normal time, Hofmann was brought down by Borussia Dortmund loanee Soumaila Coulibaly.

VAR determined there was no penalty, however, and Wirtz fired a late free-kick over the crossbar in stoppage time.