By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The drama looks set to continue once more in the Bundesliga as FC Union Berlin gets underway with a Friday night curtain-raiser against second-tier champions FC St. Pauli in a meeting of two of German football’s fabled cult clubs.
Late goals, star names and great games lit up the opening of Bundesliga last week.
When the lights have dimmed down at the Stadion An der Alten Försterei in the German capital, Saturday dawns with several title challengers looking to set an early-season rhythm. In Bayer 04 Leverkusen versus RB Leipzig, two direct rivals go head to head at the BayArena. Last season’s double winners opened the defence of their Bundesliga title with a 3-2 win at Borussia Mönchengladbach that enhanced the Werkself’s battle-to-the-last legacy. Florian Wirtz’s winner 11 minutes into stoppage time not only broke Gladbach hearts, it signalled to the rest one more time that they can never let up against Xabi Alonso’s men. Marco Rose’s Leipzig – fourth-placed finishers last season and 1-0 victors against VfL Bochum 1848 on opening day – have been warned.
Nuri Şahin savoured his first Bundesliga win in the Borussia Dortmund hot seat, with England U21 international attacker Jamie Gittens scoring a brace in BVB’s 2-0 victory against Eintracht Frankfurt on Matchday 1. A former Bundesliga winner at Dortmund as a player under Jürgen Klopp, Şahin will be eager to see his side negotiate a potentially tricky encounter away to SV Werder Bremen – another of his ex-clubs – next time around, with an atmospheric Weserstadion never an easy venue to tame.
FC Bayern München’s Vincent Kompany was another new coach rejoicing in victory after the first day of the season, the 38-year-old seeing his team battle to an exciting 3-2 win at the home of VfL Wolfsburg. Kompany said the record champions “showed outstanding mentality” to finally see off the determined Wolves. Bayern will need more of the same this Sunday when they host an SC Freiburg side that began their post-Christian Streich era with a notable 3-1 triumph against last term’s Bundesliga runners-up VfB Stuttgart.
The Swabians will have little time to mull over that aforementioned loss with a game against the always energetic 1. FSV Mainz 05 to come. “This was the kind of match that we can learn from,” Stuttgart’s Germany international Maximilian Mittelstädt said of the Freiburg loss. Those lessons look set to be tested at the MHPArena at the weekend.
Elsewhere, Andrej Kramarić watchers will thrill in following the Croatian’s efforts, with TSG Hoffenheim the benefactors of yet another hat-trick from the prolific forward last Saturday. Kramarić ended last season with a treble against Bayern and began this with three more at home to Holstein Kiel, taking his tally to 10 top-tier goals in his last eight appearances. Keeping the 33-year-old at bay is a test Frankfurt will find tricky, particularly after their morale-sapping loss in the latter stages against Dortmund.
With Kiel hosting Wolfsburg, 1. FC Heidenheim 1846 – winners at St. Pauli last week – facing FC Augsburg and Gladbach going head-to-head with Bochum, Bundesliga fans will have plenty to keep them entertained when the action resumes.