Bundesliga Review: Dortmund Get Their First Win, Promoted Sides Impress

Borussia Dortmund just managed to keep FC Augsburg at bay to earn their first points of the season. Newly promoted sides FC KAi??ln and SC Paderborn put in memorable performances to pick up their first wins of the season. Here is a look back at the action from a thrilling matchday 2 in the Bundesliga.

Dortmund narrowly sneak past Augsburg

After their struggles against high flying Bayer Leverkusen last week, Dortmund were keen to get their title challenge back on track against Augsburg. Markus Weinzierl is still coming to terms with the loss of key players over the summer and was in for a tough battle against the eight time champions.

Dortmundai??i??s mini injury crisis meant that JA?rgen Klopp continued to deploy a 4-1-4-1 with Sebastian Kehl as the lone deep midfielder. Ciro Immobile was moved to the bench as Klopp tinkered around with his lineup from last week, using Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang as a lone striker. Weinzierl made a couple of changes to his side too, bringing in Shawn Parker for Caiuby and Nikola Djurdjic for Tim Matavz.

Dortmund began the more dominant side and it took them just eleven minutes to break the deadlock. Marco Reus, who has struggled for form in the first few games of the season, scored an exquisite goal following a quick exchange with Kevin GroAYkreutz. Reus was involved a few minutes later as his corner was headed in by Sokratis in the 14th minute to give Dortmund a 2-0 lead.

Henrkh Mkhitaryan continued to be Dortmundai??i??s central figure in attack, while Milos Jojic and Kehl looked average at best. Some shaky defending was unpunished by the Augsburg attack on multiple occasions. Djurdjic and Tobias Werner were the Bavariansai??i?? most potent attackers.

Adrian Ramos, who replaced GroAYkreutz in the 73rd minute, opened his account with a simple tap in five minutes later. Just when things seemed to be done and dusted, Weinzierlai??i??s substitutions came to fruition as Augsburg almost pulled off a memorable comeback.

Both Augsburg goals came as a result of wonderful crosses from left back Abdul Rahman Baba. Erik Durm was the culprit for the first goal as Raul Bobadilla stole away from the youngster to poke the ball past Roman Weidenfeller. A second vicious cross from Baba, one minute from time, was headed in by Matavz, who got to the ball before Sokratis.

Dortmund may have won the fixture but there are still chinks in the armory that will worry Klopp. Durm has looked vulnerable thus far, while Kehl is clearly not capable of manning the midfield all alone.

ai???It was incredibly important for us to win at a time like this,ai??? said Kehl. With Champions League football right around the corner, Klopp will have to ensure that his side doesnai??i??t continue to leak goals in this manner in the future.

New boys pick up their first wins

Paderborn began life in the top division in exhilarating fashion on the opening matchday as they were denied their first win thanks to a stoppage time equalizer from Ja-Cheol Koo. This week, Andre Breitenreiterai??i??s side had no such heartbreak as they decimated Hamburger SV thanks to goals from Elias Kachunga, Mario Vrancic and Moritz Stoppelkamp.

With the two newly promoted clubs as their opponents for the first two weeks, a new look Hamburg were expected to begin the season in style. But things havenai??i??t gone as planned. A drab 0-0 draw against KAi??ln last week was followed by a 3-0 thumping handed to them by Paderborn, which leaves Mirko Slomka in a difficult situation.

Further south, VfB Stuttgart, who are ushering in a new era under Armin Veh, failed to register any points when they hosted KAi??ln. The Billy Goats began on the back foot but found their release in the 22nd minute when Yuya Osaka tapped the ball past the line after Sven Ulreich pulled off a magnificent save. KAi??ln doubled their lead just over ten minutes later when Anthony Ujah thundered a half volley past Ulreich.

Paderborn and KAi??ln have begun life in the top division in style, the former already having scored five goals while the latter are yet to concede. Unlike Greuther FA?rth and Eintracht Braunschweig, Paderborn, who are in the Bundesliga for the first time in their history too, have taken to the top flight with ease. It looks like the two new clubs are going to be staying as far away from the drop zone as possible.

Other results

Werder Bremen 1-1 Hoffenheim, Bayer Leverkusen 4-2 Hertha Berlin, VfL Wolfsburg 2-2 Eintracht Frankfurt, Schalke 04 1-1 Bayern Munich, Mainz 05 0-0 Hannover 96, Freiburg 0-0 Borussia MAi??nchengladbach

Random five

1. Eight players opened their goalscoring accounts for their respective clubs this week.

2. FC KAi??ln are the only side who are yet to concede a goal, while SC Freiburg are the only side who have failed to score.

3. The 43 goals scored thus far have been netted by 39 different players.

4. Bayer Leverkusen already have five different players who have hit the back of the net.

5. In just two games for Hertha Berlin, Julian Schieber has managed to score half the number of goals that he did for Borussia Dortmund over two whole seasons.

Goal of the week

Karim Bellarabi has been in scintillating form for Leverkusen this season and continued to impress this week with this stunner to help seal his sideai??i??s comeback against Hertha [1:00 ai??i?? 1:24]

Bundesliga Review: Dortmund Get Their First Win, Promoted Sides Impress

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