Bayern back to basics, Dortmund disappoint: What happened on Day 1 of the Bundesliga?

There was one thing promised with the return of the Bundesliga last weekend, drama, and there was plenty to go around.

The season finally kicked off last Friday. With Bayern favourites to win the title from the off, that doesn’t mean that there is nothing up for grabs for the other teams, quite the opposite actually.

If you didn’t manage to catch all the action, that’s okay! Sports Talk United are bringing the details to you.

The Bundesliga Champions return with a bang

Bundesliga Champions Bayern emerged from the tunnel with the Meisterschale sitting on the pitch. The first game of the season kicked off on Friday, August 22nd, in a packed Allianz Arena. They would face RB Leipzig, a team who had an uncharacteristic season last year, finding themselves without any European qualification.

As the game got underway, it became increasingly clear that Bayern were dominant. New arrival to Munich Luis Diaz was in the starting lineup. The Colombian’s experience was obvious from his first minutes on the pitch.

There were a number of chances in the opening minutes of the game for Bayern. The best early chance for Bayern came in the 11th minute when a cross from Harry Kane put Laimer in front of goal, though it was parried by Leipzig keeper Péter Gulácsi and flew across the face of goal, but no one was there to finish it.

The opening goal of the game came in the 27th minute when a scuffle in the box left the ball bouncing to Michael Olise, who buried it to the left side of the goal. Bayern followed up quickly with another goal in the 32nd minute when a backheel from Gnabry left the ball to Diaz who danced around two defenders before smashing the ball against the crossbar and into the goal. Bayern went three-nil up ten minutes later when another brilliant pass from Gnabry found Olise, who scored his brace in a goal almost identical to his first.

The second half gave no respite to Leipzig as Harry Kane hit the back of their net three times between the 64th and 77th minute, completing his first hat-trick of the season, with the match ending six-nil, placing Bayern top of the table after Matchday 1.

Leipzig found it very hard in Munich, managing only 37% possession over the ninety minutes, and registering only one shot on target of 12. Bayern registered 19 shots, with 10 on target.

St. Pauli spoil the BVB party with two late goals

This match was action packed with a huge amount of drama and upset for Dortmund fans in the final minutes. The match kicked off on Saturday evening in Pauli’s Millerntor Stadion, with the pitch covered in confetti by fans celebrating the beginning of the new season. Dortmund were heavy favourites here but an upset was always possible, though Pauli were without their Aussie captain Jackson Irvine who has been injured since April.

Most of the first half was uneventful, though Pauli had the better chances, Dortmund’s defence were not playing well, missing captain Emre Can and their best defender by far, Nico Schlotterbeck. Conceding looked inevitable.

It was Dortmund who scored first. The deadlock was broken in the 34th minute, when a cross played in by Marcel Sabitzer found the head of Serhou Guirassy to put Dortmund ahead 1-0. Things looked dire for St. Pauli after Dortmund were awarded a penalty three minutes later when Eric Smith brought Karim Adeyemi down just inside the box.

Serhou Guirassy stepped up to take the penalty, Pauli fans booed and whistled while alarms blared. He took a short run up before trying to plant the ball in the bottom left corner of the net but it was saved by Pauli keeper Nikola Vasilj. The first half ended one-nil to Dortmund.

The second half began with Dortmund on the front foot once again. At the 50th minute, after some dodgy backpasses, Dortmund’s Daniel Svensson was left on his own to pick up a bad pass and slipped, allowing Pauli’s Pyrka to take the ball, passing it to Sinani. Sinani whipped it into the box to Andreas Hountondji who barely managed to head it into the bottom left corner, beating Dortmund’s Gregor Kobel. It was one-one.

St. Pauli kept mounting pressure on die Schwarzgelben but found it hard to score. In the 67th minute, Dortmund got themselves ahead once again through Waldemar Anton and 7 minutes later a long ball from Pascal Gross at the half-way line found Julian Brandt in the box. Brandt took one touch with his chest to slow the ball before his volley rocketed the ball into the back of the net, a beautiful goal. Dortmund were now three-one up with less than 15 minutes to go, the game was essentially over.

Despite the circumstances, Pauli’s players did not give up, they kept pressure on Dortmund. That pressure paid off when young Dortmund defender Filippo Mané had pulled a little too tightly on the back of Abdoulie Ceesay while trying to defend in the box. He was given a somewhat questionable red card after a VAR check and Pauli were awarded a penalty, slotted away by Danel Sinani in the 86th minute. Dortmund were down to 10 men with only a one goal advantage.

Dortmund were managing well to park the bus and keep Pauli away from goal until the 89th minute when a wonderstrike from outside the box by Eric Smith flew into the left-hand side of the goal, equalising.

In a matter of minutes, Dortmund had thrown the game away. Both teams left with a single point on the board.

Can Uzun shines as Eintracht Frankfurt dominate Werder Bremen

If you had assumed that Werder Bremen were not going to do well against Eintracht Frankfurt, you would have been right. Following their first-round exit of the DFB Pokal to 2. Bundesliga side Arminia Bielefeld, it didn’t look good for them. Though Frankfurt were now without both Omar Marmoush and Hugo Ekitike, their main goalscoring threats last season. Someone would have to step up to provide the goals that Ekitike and Marmoush had provided, and it seems that several players did in fact step up.

In the early minutes of the game, Frankfurt were already establishing themselves as the dominant team. Can Uzun opened the scoring in the 22nd minute with a wonderful strike from outside the box, placing it perfectly in the top left corner, impossible for the Bremen keeper to save.

Frankfurt’s lead was doubled 3 minutes later when Bremen lost the ball deep in their own half. Can Uzun crossed it into the box where it was met by the head of Jean-Mattéo Bahoya and put in the back of the net.

At the beginning of the second half, nothing seemed to change for Bremen. Bahoya scored again in the 47th minute to put Frankfurt three-nil up, with the assist from Can Uzun again. One minute later Bremen managed to get a goal back from a beautiful through-ball from Marco Grüll to Justin Nijnmah, who managed to beat the defender who got back to him before blasting the ball into the left side of the goal.

Frankfurt were not done scoring, finding the back of the net one more time in the 70th minute by Ansgar Knauff. The game ended four-one to Eintracht Frankfurt.

Frankfurt had more big chances, 18 shots to Werder’s 10 shots, though both teams only had 5 shots on target. This highlights Eintracht Frankfurt’s quality up front, which they will need if they are to fight for a European spot once again this season. Can Uzun had a brilliant game, scoring one goal and assisting two more. He is one of the players that Sports Talk United mentioned when discussing players to watch in the Bundesliga.