Great start for promoted teams as Ingolstadt win and Darmstadt draw

There was a great deal of excitement on the first Saturday afternoon of fixtures in the Bundesliga. Newly promoted teams Ingolstadt and Darmstadt were both ecstatic with their results. Ingolstadt defeated Mainz 2-0 and Darmstadt drew 2-2 at home against Hannover in a spectacular match. André Breitenreiter led Schalke to an easy victory against Werder Bremen on his debut as manager, whilst Bayer Leverkusen came back from 1-0 down to beat Hoffenheim 2-1 and Hertha Berlin won 1-0 against Europa League participants Augsburg, following a dubious penalty decision.

The first goal of the day came in Leverkusen. Hoffenheim got off to a flying start with Steven Zuber putting them into the lead after five minutes. Eugen Polanski set up the Swiss winger perfectly, leaving the Bayer 04 goalkeeper Bernd Leno no chance. Leverkusen seemed unfazed by the early setback, and it quickly developed into an end-to-end game with chances for both sides. Stefan Kießling equalised just before the half-time whistle, leveling the score at 1-1. Leverkusen displayed their superiority mercilessly in front of the home fans and Germany U20s international Julian Brandt scored the winner after 71 minutes.

Di Santo gets a win against his old club

New Schalke striker Franco di Santo enjoyed a victory against his old team Werder Bremen. The Argentinean failed to score, but Breitenreiter’s Schalke still showed how high their ambitions are. In a fast-paced, but largely balanced game, the visitors took the lead through an unlucky own goal scored in the 34th minute, as Theodor Gebre-Selassie lobbed the ball into his own net from 18 yards. In the second half, Schalke really showed their dominance. The Royal Blues were eventually rewarded by decisive goals from Eric-Maxim Choupo-Moting and Klaas-Jan Huntelaar, the latter coming after a great counter from Leroy Sané.

Both sides had a sending-off each, but Hertha penalty seals victory

Large periods of time went by in the game between Augsburg and Hertha with not a lot happening. The fans would have to wait until first-half injury time for the first notable incident, when Augsburg striker Raul Bobadilla was sent off for his second yellow card of the match. Hertha Berlin used their superior numbers to their advantage in the second half as Augsburg’s Ragner Klavan brought down Salomon Kalou inside the penalty area. The Ivory Coast international converted the resulting spot kick to put his team 1-0 up in the 48th minute. Augsburg struck the woodwork three times throughout the match, but Hertha overcame these scares in order to retain the lead.

There certainly didn't appear to be a great gulf in class between newly promoted Ingolstadt and Mainz. Ralf Hasenhüttl’s team put pressure on the Mainz players right from the beginning and had far better chances throughout. Lukas Hinterseer punished a passive Mainz team with the same efficiency that he showed in the 2. Bundesliga.

Heller impresses for Darmstadt scoring two goals

There was a lot of excitement in the game between newly promoted Darmstadt and Hannover, and the Lilies certainly showed that they deserve to be in the Bundesliga. Marcel Heller got his team off to a dream start by curling the ball past Ron-Robert Zieler into the top corner in the 31st minute, following a great run down the left wing. Hannover’s new signing Charlison Benshop balanced the scores in the 48th minute. After a misplaced pass from Albornoz, Heller added another goal after 54 minutes as he took it round 29-year-old Zieler and finished from a tight angle to make it 2-1. Hannover managed to equalise through an Aytac Sulu own goal from, after Christian Mathenia had failed to convert from the penalty spot.