Zan-Luk Leban played brilliantly for Celje, but Bayer Leverkusen nevertheless eased to a 2-0 win in their opening Europa League fixture.

Leverkusen had eight shots on target at BayArena, yet Celje goalkeeper Leban was in inspired form and kept out all but one of them.

That is because Leverkusen went ahead through an own goal from Svit Seslar in the 15th minute.

Leverkusen's opener came after Benjamin Verbic had blocked Moussa Diaby's close-range shot, Patrik Schick had fired wide and Martin Terrier had seen a shot tipped onto the post by Leban, who also thwarted Edmond Tapsoba. 

Mark Flekken was called into action by Verbic at the other end, before the Leverkusen goalkeeper then denied Seslar.

Facundo Medina was frustrated by Leban after the interval, but the pressure finally told in the 74th minute when the Argentine's volley deflected in to secure a winning start for Leverkusen.

Leban's magnificent seven not enough for Celje

This is only the fourth time Celje have appeared in a major European competition. They exited early from the 2003-04 UEFA Cup, then reached the quarter-finals and last 16 of the Conference League, respectively, over the past two years.

Across the 11 previous major European meetings between German and Slovenian clubs, German sides had lost just once (W6 D4), a 1-0 win for Domzale in the UEFA Cup in September 2005 against Stuttgart.

So, the odds were stacked against Celje from the off here, and though Leverkusen's quality ultimately saw them claim a routine win, it was not for the efforts of Leban.

He made a total of seven stops, keeping Celje in the game until Medina's deflected strike finally did the job for Leverkusen, who have now won 15 of their last 17 Europa League group/league stage games, winning their last 10 at home while netting 39 goals.