Round One – Bundesliga

August 26, 2016

Bayern Munich             6-0     Werder Bremen

Xabi Alonso 6’

Robert Lewandowski 13’, 46’ 77’

Philipp Lahm 66’

Franck Ribery 73’

Is there anything that will stop Bayern Munich from making it five Bundesliga titles in a row? Is there a real domestic competition for Bayern this year? 

New manager, but same old Bayern Munich.

Bayern opens the 2016/17 Bundesliga season by welcoming Werder Bremen into their home stadium (Allianz Arena).  Bayern had a title to defend, most would be expecting Werder Bremen to defend their place as a Bundesliga team.

Fifty points separated the two teams in the final standings of the 2015/16 league table, and it showed.

We can call Bayern Munich’s first match of the Bundesliga a warm-up for the real competition. Werder Bremen put up know fight against the defending champions. Match finished 6-0, but could have easily been upwards of 9-0 if Bayern players had been clinical in front of goal. But who could blame them? there wasn’t any pressure to score more goals. Fifty points separated the two teams in the final standings of the 2015/16 league table, and it showed.

The goals started in the 6th minute when Xabi Alonso had enough time to volley in a ball from outside the box to score. Lewandowski doubled their lead about 7 minutes later from an angle that could have been tighter for the striker if he had pressure on him.

Four goals were scored in the second half. Lewandowski started the scoring early by getting Bayern’s third goal in the first minute after the restart.

You know it is a thrashing when Philipp Lahm gets in on the scoring. Lahm scored the fourth goal for Bayern in the 66th minute, and Franck Ribery made in 5-0 on the 73rd.

A shirt pulling penalty allowed Lewandowski to get his hat-trick in the 77th minute and getting the final goal of the match.  

The referee made sure not to add any injury time to the halves. It wasn’t going to make the scoreline any different.

August 27, 2016

Augsburg     0-2     Wolfsburg

Daniel Didavi 35’

Ricardo Rodriguez 89’

It was an away win for Wolfsburg.

A goal in each half was what it took to give Wolfsburg winning start to their 2016/17 Bundesliga season over Augsburg.

Seven points and three positions separated the two at the end of last season’s league standing. With Wolfsburg finishing 8th and Augsburg on 12th.

Hamburger SV                      1-1     Ingolstadt

Bobby Shou Wood 30’            Lukas Hinterseer 79’

Bobby Woods goal in the first half  for Hamburger was canceled by Lukas Hinterseer 79th minute. It was a 1-1 draw between Hamburger SV and Ingolstadt in their Bundesliga season opener. Not a lot separated the teams last year as Hamburger SV finished 10th and Ingolstadt 11th at the end of the 2015/16 season.

Eintracht Frankfurt     1-0     Schalke 04

Alexander Meier 13’

Schalke 04 falls to Eintracht Frankfurt in what we can consider as the first upset of the Bundesliga season.

Frankfurt had to go into promotion playoffs to keep their status as a Bundesliga team, while Schalke finished 5th place in the 2015/16 Bundesliga.

Alexander Meier’s 13th-minute goal for Frankfurt was the only goal of the match.

FC Koln         2-0     Darmstadt

Marcel Risse 11’

Anthony Modeste 61’

FC Koln started their season with a home win over Darmstadt. Considering the performance of both teams from last season, this was an expected scoreline

Borussia Dortmund             2-1     Mainz 05

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang 17’ 89’        Yoshinori Muto 90’+3

It was a winning start to the title challengers. Two goals from Aubameyang did the job for Borussia Dortmund.

As one of the title favorites, Borussia Dortmund couldn’t afford anything but a win after Bayern Munich comprehensive victory over Werder Bremen.

Borussia Monchengladbach         2-1         Bayer Leverkusen

Andre Hahn 45’+2                                   Joel Pohjanpalo 80’

Lars Stindl 85’

Borussia Monchengladbach started their season with a home win over Bayer Leverkusen.

Lars Stindl found 3 points for Borussia Monchengladbach after the team gave up a first half lead to Bayer Leverkusen in the 80th minute.

Borussia Monchengladbach went to the half a goal up, courtesy of Andre Hahn’s injury time goal.  

August 28

Hertha Berlin                                               2-1                         Freiburg

Vladimir Darida 62’ Nicolas Hofler 90+3

Julian Schieber 90’+5

The second half substitute was the hero after his late goal gave Hertha Berlin a win to start their season. Newly promoted SC Freiburg almost stole the win in their opening match of the 2016/17 Bundesliga season. Hertha Berlin made it a dramatic win by losing and reclaiming the lead in injury time.

After a goalless first half, Hertha went a goal up in the 62nd minute courtesy of Vladimir Darida. It was a goal that was looking to be the winning goal until Nicolas Hofler headed in the ball from a corner kick to score for Freiburg just two minutes into injury time.

With just about three minutes left, it was looking like Freiburg was going to get a draw from this match. A late push for a winning goal by Hertha paid off when Julian Schieber managed to get some power into his shot to beat Freiburg’s goalkeeper with a little help of a deflection.

Hoffenheim                    2-2                 RasenBallsport Leipzig

Lukas Rupp 55’                              Dominik Kaiser 58’

Mark Uth 83’                                  Marcel Sabitzer 90’

Four goals in the second half were shared evenly between Hoffenheim and RasenBallsport Leipzig. Hoffenheim gave up the lead on two occasions to newly promoted RB Leipzig.

A late goal from Marcel Sabitzer in the 90th minute for RB Leipzig gave them a really good start to their Bundesliga season.

Dominik Kaiser responded quickly with a goal for RB Leipzig after Lukas Rupp put Hoffenheim up in the 55th minute.

It was looking like the winning goal when Mark Uth restored the lead for Hoffenheim in the 83rd minute, but Marcel Sabitzer had other plan made sure it wasn’t.