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The Bundesliga is back with a bang! If matchday 1 is anything to go by, we’re in for plenty of goals and drama throughout the course of the season. In the opening round of fixtures, we saw a dominating Bayern, an incredible St. Pauli fightback, newcomers get off to a winning start, and some managers already under fire. Here is your review and recap of matchday 1 in the Bundesliga.
Bayern Batter Lethargic Leipzig
The Bundesliga kickstarted with an absolute demolish job as Bayern Munich put six past a woeful RB Leipzig side. From the opening minutes, Bayern were on the front foot and didn’t take long to open the scoring through Michael Olise. A trademark run off the outside right was only ever going to result in a goal. This was to be the trend of the evening as Bayern soon made it two through debutant, Luis Diaz. Perhaps the goal of the night, it was a sweeping Bayern move, which was finished by Diaz’s strike, hitting the roof of the net from the edge of the box. Olise then doubled his tally for the evening, making it 3-0 at the break.
Whilst Bayern were simply too good for Leipzig, the defending at times was almost non-existent. As far as first games go for the new head coach, Ole Werner, it was a disaster.
The second half followed the same path, with Harry Kane scoring a “perfect hat-trick” (in German football, a perfect hat-trick is scoring three goals in a row).
Leipzig did find a goal when the score was 4-0, but VAR intervened and disallowed the goal as the beginning of the move started with a free kick, which the Leipzig player decided to take a few extra touches before actually passing the ball.
It was later revealed that VAR is technically not supposed to get involved with such decisions, but after fierce complaints from Bayern, the ref demanded a check.
Leipzig did complain, but in truth, it was never going to change the end result.
Bayern start as they mean to go on, whilst Ole Werner’s Leipzig will have to put it right against FC Heidenheim in matchday 2.
Pauli & Dortmund Six Goal Thriller
St. Pauli and Borussia Dortmund played out a six-goal thriller on Saturday evening as Pauli came from 1-3 down to draw 3-3. As expected, it was the away side that took control of the match early on as Serhou Guirassy didn’t take long to get off the mark via a smart header just past the 30-minute mark.
Five minutes into the second half, however, Pauli found a way back into the game from Burnley loanee, Andréas Hountondji. However, goals from Waldemar Anton and Julian Brandt, 15 minutes from time, looked to put the game beyond the home side.
But that was about to change. Following a penalty and red card for BVB’s Filippo Mané, Pauli pulled one back, and the comeback was on with just five minutes of time remaining. For Mané, it was a debut to forget for the 20-year-old defender.
The hero of the day turned out to be captain Eric Smith, whose effort from around 25 metres rocketed past Gregor Kobel to earn Pauli an opening day point.
Following the game, it was reported by German media that Jobe Bellingham’s dad, Mark Bellingham, clashed with BVB’s sporting director over the team’s style of play. What followed was family members being banned from the dressing room.
Erik ten Hag Loses Opening Match
It’s a new era at Bayer Leverkusen after a summer of change, including the introduction of new head coach Erik ten Hag. However, B04 got off to the worst possible start, losing 1-2 to last season’s strugglers, TSG Hoffenheim.
It was an electric start as TSG hit the post after 90 seconds before new signing Jarell Quansah from Liverpool scored his first Bundesliga goal after six minutes to put B04 ahead. It was a delicate free kick into the box from Grimaldo, which allowed Quansah to head the ball into the far corner pretty much unchallenged from the defence.
However, that was as good as it got for Erik ten Hag’s side. In the 25th minute, it was the new Hoffenheim signing Fsnik Asllani from Elversberg who opened his account for the season. A smart move down the left found Asllani, whose deflected effort off Quansah found the roof of the net.
The winning goal came in the 51st minute following a long ball which wasn’t dealt with by the B04 defence. Eventually, the ball fell to Tim Lemperle, who slammed the ball into the corner of the net from 25 metres.
After the match, Erik ten Hag admitted: “We have a lot of work ahead of us.”
He concluded: “Clearly, I’m disappointed. It was a game of few chances and Hoffenheim were more effective. We did not get into the final third of the pitch often enough. Twice we did not pay attention and we conceded a goal.”
One player who can perhaps help the B04 is Victor Boniface. The Nigerian striker was due to sign for Milan this week, but GGFN can now report that the deal has fallen through with Boniface failing his medical.
Around The Grounds
Elsewhere in the Bundesliga, newcomers FC Köln got off to a winning start thanks to a 90th-minute winner by Marius Bülter against the 10 men of Mainz 05. The former Hoffenheim man scoring a crucial goal on his debut for the Billy Goats.
Union Berlin also caused a slight upset, overcoming VfB Stuttgart 2-1 in the capital. Two goals from Ilyas Ansah not only gave Union the three points, but the player earned himself a new club record. No FCU player has ever scored twice in his Union starting XI debut.
Borussia Mönchengladbach and newcomers Hamburg SV played out the matchday’s only goalless draw on Sunday. As reported by GGFN’s Sam Carey, HSV will need time to settle in the top flight, whilst Gladbach were clearly missing their go-to striker, Tim Kleindienst, who is sidelined until October.
There were also wins for VfL Wolfsburg (1-3 vs FC Heidenheim), Eintracht Frankfurt (4-1 vs Werder Bremen), and FC Augsburg (1-3 vs SC Freiburg).
GGFN | Jamie Allen
