Bundesliga Review Game Week 2: More wins for the big guns of Germany
The second round of games in the Bundesliga took place this weekend in Germany, with a total of 24 goals scored across the nine games. The highlights of the weekend included Red Bull Leipzig thrashing Freiburg at home to claim their first win of the season, Hamburg gaining an impressive victory in Cologne and VfB Stuttgart grabbing their first three points of the season at the Mercedes-Benz Arena at the expense of Mainz. Hannover were also able to score a credible win at home against Schalke, while there were also victories for Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund and Wolfsburg. There were two draws this weekend coming in the games between Augsburg and Borussia Moenchengladbach, and Bayer Leverkusen and Hoffenheim.
Cologne 1-3 Hamburg
The weekend started on Friday night when Cologne welcome Hamburg to the RheinEnergie Stadion. Bobby Wood and Andre Hahn gave the away side the lead before Mergin Mavraj was sent off in the second half. Fredrik Sorensen pulled one back seven minutes into time added on at the end of the game but Lewis Holtby sealed the points three minutes later to ensure that Markus Gisdol’s men went back to the banks of the Elbe with all three points in tow.
Bayer Leverkusen 2-2 Hoffenheim
Hoffenheim went into this game at the BayArena looking to recover from their midweek thrashing at the hands of Liverpool in the Champions League. The misery was prolonged though when Ermin Bicakcic fouled Julian Brandt in the penalty area and conceded a spot kick, which Brazilian left back Wendell stepped up to convert. Andrej Kramaric equalised two minutes after half time but Kerim Bellarabi restored the lead for the hosts on 49 minutes. However, Hoffenheim would gain a point from this fixture when Mark Uth scored in the 70th minute.
Eintracht Frankfurt 0-1 Wolfsburg
Going into this game, Eintracht will have been positive with regards to their chances of a result in their first home fixture of the season but it wasn’t to be. A goal from Daniel Didavi from a quick breakaway in the 22nd minute was all it took to ensure that Andries Jonker’s boys walked away with all the points.
Augsburg 2-2 Borussia Moenchengladbach
In a thoroughly entertaining game at the WWK Arena, the spoils were shared by Augsburg and Gladbach. Alfred Finbogasson gave the home side the lead in the first minute of the game before Denis Zakaria equalised 6 minutes later. Oscar Wendt put Gladbach ahead on the half hour mark. Just as it looked like the away side would gain all the points, substitute Sergio Cordova popped up to snatch a draw and claim a point for Augsburg in the 89th minute.
Werder Bremen 0-2 Bayern Munich
Going into this game it was clear that Bremen would be underdogs against the reigning champions, despite their home advantage. After amassing 19 shots on goal and 71.5% possession of the ball Bayern did get the win they deserved. It took until the 72nd minute for Robert Lewandowski to break the deadlock for the visitors but two minutes later he sealed the win and Bayern went back to Bavaria with maximum points.
VfB Stuttgart 1-0 FSV Mainz
A riveting game at the Mercedes-Benz Arena saw Stuttgart grab their first win of the season. Despite the game being fairly open the winner came from an unlikely source, as new boy Holger Badstuber scored in the 53rd minute to win the game for his new side.
Borussia Dortmund 2-0 Hertha Berlin
The day’s late kick off saw Borussia Dortmund take maximum points from Hertha Berlin in their first game at Signal Iduna Park of the 2017/18 season. Pierre Emerick Aubameyang scored in the 15th minute to put Dortmund ahead and Nuri Sahin wrapped up the victory in the 57th minute to send Hertha back to the capital with their tales between their legs.
Red Bull Leipzig 4-1 Freiburg
RB Leipzig were able to celebrate their Champions League group draw by thrashing Freiburg at home. Florian Niederlechner put the away side ahead after 23 minutes and it took Leipzig until after half time for Tobias Werner to equalise. Willi Orban put the hosts ahead on 55 minutes before Werner doubled his tally to make it 3-1 on 71. New signing Bruma would then come off the bench to add glass to the scoreline before Nicolas Hofler was sent off for a second yellow for Freiburg to compound a miserable afternoon for the visitors.
Hannover 96 1-0 Schalke 04
The last game of the weekend saw Hannover open their home campaign with Schalke the first visitors to the HDI-Arena for this season. Andre Breitenreiter will have been looking for a positive result and he got just that thanks to a solitary goal from Spanish forward Jonathas in the 67th minute only 5 minutes after coming on as a substitute.
Game week 3 fixtures
Friday 8th September
Hamburg vs. RB Leipzig
Saturday 9th September
Augsburg vs. Cologne
Borussia Moenchengladbach vs. Eintracht Frankfurt
Freiburg vs. Borussia Dortmund
Mainz vs. Bayer Leverkusen
Wolfsburg vs. Hannover 96
Hoffenheim vs. Bayern Munich
Sunday 10th September
Hertha Berlin vs. Werder Bremen
Schalke vs. VfB Stuttgart