Dortumund: Jadon Sancho helped Borussia Dortmund to a 5-1 win over Augsburg in their first game of the new Bundesliga season on Saturday, scoring in the second half to pick up his second goal of the new campaign.
England international Sancho, who claimed his first of the term in Dortmund's Supercup victory over Bayern Munich two weeks ago, found the net just after half-time as Dortmund ran riot to go top of the table.
Having thrown away a nine-point lead and narrowly missed out on the title last season, Dortmund had promised another attack on Bayern's hegemony in 2019/20.
They were given an early boost when the champions dropped two points against Hertha Berlin in Friday's season opener, before romping to victory in front of their own fans on Saturday.
Florian Niederlechner's first-minute opener for Augsburg left Dortmund stunned, but it took the hosts all of two minutes to draw level, as Paco Alcacer gratefully pounced on a mistake from Augsburg keeper Tomas Koubek.
Koubek was at fault once again when Sancho put Dortmund ahead after the break, flapping at a low cross before the Englishman smashed the ball in at the far post.
The Czech keeper then crowned a miserable Bundesliga debut as he dropped the ball at the feet of Marco Reus to gift Dortmund a third goal.
A curling long-range strike from Alcacer and a debut goal for new signing Julian Brandt completed the rout for Dortmund.
LEWANDOWSKI TO THE RESCUE
A brace for Robert Lewandowski was not enough to save Bayern Munich from making a spluttering start to the new Bundesliga season as the reigning German champions were held to a 2-2 draw at home to Hertha Berlin on Friday.
Lewandowski insisted that visitors Hertha had been "lucky" after he saved a point for Bayern with a second-half penalty.
Hertha, who finished 11th last season, cancelled out Lewandowski's opener with two unusual goals to take a surprise lead in the first half and ultimately deal an early blow to Bayern's title defence.
"We didn't play badly, and they barely had a shot. They were lucky," Lewandowski told ZDF.
"It wasn't a false start to the season. We were the better team and should have won," said coach Niko Kovac.
Despite winning the domestic double last season, Bayern opened the season under pressure after a 2-0 defeat to Borussia Dortmund in the German Supercup two weeks ago.
Questions over Kovac's tactics and relentless criticism of the club's transfer policy had also unsettled Bayern in the build-up, but they looked sharp early on as Joshua Kimmich and Serge Gnabry probed and prodded on the right wing.
The duo finally broke Hertha on 24 minutes, as Kimmich set up Gnabry to send a fizzing cross towards Lewandowski, who prodded home at full stretch from close range.
With Bayern completely in control, Hertha struck twice in quick succession to turn the game on its head.
The equaliser arrived with a dollop of good fortune on 36 minutes, as a hopeful long-range effort from Dodi Lukebakio deflected off Vedad Ibisevic and wrong-footed goalkeeper Manuel Neuer.
Three minutes later, Hertha took the lead in curious fashion after Marko Grujic clashed heads with new Bayern signing Benjamin Pavard.
While Pavard pulled up holding his head, Grujic managed to chase down the loose ball and round Neuer before himself collapsing to the turf.
Both players were quickly back on their feet, and Grujic was in the spotlight again when he pulled down Lewandowski off the ball on the hour mark.
The resulting penalty, given by VAR, was coolly converted by the Polish striker to bring Bayern back on level terms.
Lewandowski, Gnabry and Corentin Tolisso all came close as Bayern pushed for the winner late on, but Hertha held on to take a well-earned point back to the capital city.
Bayern fans will at least have one new face to cheer on after the club announced they had reached "agreement in principle" to sign Philippe Coutinho on loan from Barcelona.
LEVERKUSEN WIN LATE-ON
Elsewhere, Former Dortmund boss Peter Bosz watched his Bayer Leverkusen side stumble their way to a 3-2 victory over promoted minnows Paderborn.
Leon Bailey deflected in Kevin Volland's long-range shot to give Leverkusen the lead on 10 minutes, but underdogs Paderborn responded almost immediately through Sven Michel.
A nonchalant chip from Kai Havertz quickly restored the lead, but Streli Mamba prodded Paderborn level from a goalmouth scramble just a few minutes later.
Kevin Volland slotted home the winner 20 minutes from time to give Leverkusen a hard-earned winning start.
Werder Bremen, widely tipped as dark horses in this year's race for Europe, got their season off to the worst possible start with a 3-1 home defeat to Fortuna Duesseldorf.
Bremen's Johannes Eggestein cancelled out Rouwen Hennings' first-half opener just after the break, but goals from Kenan Karaman and Kaan Ayhan ensured a perfect afternoon for Duesseldorf.
A sweetly timed volley from Maximilian Arnold and a simple finish for Wout Weghorst saw Wolfsburg edge a 2-1 win over promoted side Cologne, while late goals from Lucas Hoeler, Jonathan Schmid and Luca Waldschmidt snatched a 3-0 win for Freiburg over Mainz.
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