Borussia Dortmund won in Peter Bosz’s first Bundesliga game in charge in style, beating VfL Wolfsburg 3-0 on Saturday afternoon.
Elsewhere, Schalke 04 started the reign of Domenico Tedesco by beating last year’s runners-up RB Leipzig 2-0, whilst there was also wins on the first Saturday of the season for Hamburger SV, Hannover 96, Hertha BSC and TSG 1899 Hoffenheim.
Ruhr rivals start well under new coaches
With the continued speculation over the future of Ousmane Dembélé, it would have been easy for Dortmund to feel sorry for themselves as the opened their league campaign. Fortunately for them, Dembélé isn’t the only young winger they can call upon. So much may depend on Christian Pulisic this season and he put them ahead after 21 minutes.
Marc Bartra would soon double that advantage in style, before the Bundesliga’s top scorer last season Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang opened his account for the new campaign on the hour mark. For what it is worth, the margin of victory over the poor Wolves puts Dortmund top of the Bundesliga, ahead of Bayern Munich after their win last night.
After a bad season last year by their standards, Schalke had a difficult first game at home to Leipzig, however after weathering an early storm they the lead from the spot after Dayot Upamecano fouled Franco di Santo, with Nabil Bentaleb converted the penalty.
Yussuf Poulsen had a goal controversially, but probably correctly, disallowed for Leipzig in the second half, before Yevhen Konoplyanka, a forgotten man under Markus Weinzierl last season, scored on the counter to make the game safe.
Kramaric earns Hoffenheim three points late on
Hoffenheim bounced back from their midweek defeat to Liverpool in the UEFA Champions League with a narrow victory over Werder Bremen. They had to wait until the 84th minute though for substitute Andrej Kramaric to score the only goal of the game.
Matthew Leckie had made a dream debut for Hertha at the Olympiastadion, score two goals in the second half as his side beat Bundesliga returnees VfB Stuttgart. There was a better result for the other promoted side, with Hannover winning 1-0 at 1. FSV Mainz 05 thanks to a Martin Harnik goal.
Finally, after leaving their fans fearing the worst after the horror defeat against VfL Osnabrück in the DFB-Pokal last weekend, Hamburger SV opened their league campaign with a 1-0 victory against FC Augsburg. Nicolai Müller scored the goal early, but in typical HSV fashion he was forced off after injuring himself celebrating.
SC Freiburg host Eintracht Frankfurt, and Borussia Mönchengladbach and 1. FC Köln start with a Rheinisches Derby in the two remaining matchday one fixtures on Sunday.