Mike Hanke (m., with Juan Arango) celebrates putting Gladbach in front against Hoffenheim
Mike Hanke (m., with Juan Arango) celebrates putting Gladbach in front against Hoffenheim

Arango inspires Gladbach win; happy return for Düsseldorf

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Munich - Juan Arango led Borussia Mönchengladbach to a victory over 1899 Hoffenheim on Bundesliga Matchday 1, while Dani Schahin's brace at Augsburg gave newly-promoted Fortuna Düsseldorf a successful start to their season. Elsewhere, SC Freiburg drew against Mainz 05 and 1. FC Nuremberg snapped up all three points against Hamburger SV.

Borussia Mönchengladbach 2-1 1899 Hoffenheim


There was a positive atmosphere in Gladbach's Borussia-Park despite the hosts' 3-1 defeat to Dynamo Kyiv in their Champions League play-off first leg earlier in the week. Gladbach enjoyed more possession during the first half against a Hoffenheim side that was knocked out of the DFB Cup first round against lower league side Berliner AK. However, they were missing creative ideas in the final third of the pitch against a stiff 1899 defence. Eventually, a fizzing Juan Arango free-kick found Mike Hanke's head to open the scoring after 33 minutes.

In a game with few opportunities, Hoffenheim improved in the second half and equalised 66 minutes into the game when Roberto Firmino hit the net from close range after Borussia's goalkeeper Marc-Andre Ter Stegen could only parry Eren Derdiyok's shot. Mönchengladbach reacted quickly and ten minutes before the final whistle, Arango swerved a free-kick cleverly into the top-right corner from just outside the box to make it 2-1.

SC Freiburg 1-1 1. FSV Mainz 05


Having both begun the 2012/13 campaign with first-round wins in the DFB Cup last weekend, Freiburg and Mainz were determined to continue where they had left off. The home side dominated the half, but Mainz had the better chances: Nicolai Müller failed to convert when alone in front of goal ten minutes into the game after Andreas Ivanschitz's beautiful backheel and the latter's follow-up attempt was cleared of the goal line by Matthias Ginter (25').

Freiburg looked sharper after the interval and needed only three minutes to go into the lead when new-recruit Max Kruse coolly finished a great through-ball from Karim Guede. It developed into an open game with both sides going for goal. However, the spoils were shared when Julian Schuster fouled Müller in the box after 65 minutes, allowing Ivanschitz to skilfully convert the resultant penalty into the top right corner (65').

FC Augsburg 0-2 Fortuna Düsseldorf


Düsseldorf had five of their 18 newly signed players in the starting eleven against last season's surprise package Augsburg. It took half an hour for the first good chance to come along on a slow first period, but Fortuna's Oliver Fink could not trouble Augsburg goalkeeper Simon Jentzsch, who saved easily.

New-promoted Düsseldorf looked very solid in defence and didn't leave Augsburg much space to create chances. Dani Schahin's brace then decided the match for Fortuna: only eight minutes after coming on to the pitch, the new signing skilfully lobbed the ball over Jentzsch with a spectacular long range effort (69') and ten minutes later the forward showed a delicate touch to control from a cross and score from seven yards.

Hamburger SV 0-1 1. FC Nuremberg


Both Hamburg and Nuremberg had a shaky start to the game, unsurprisingly given their eliminations in the first round of the DFB Cup last weekend. The guests nevertheless looked the more mature side. The game's tempo increased shortly before the half-hour mark when HSV's team captain Heiko Westermann forced Raphael Schafer to palm the ball away. Nuremberg's new playmaker, Hiroshi Kiyotake, who starred for Japan at the Olympic games, tested Rene Adler in his first game for Hamburg from long range. Adler kept the hosts in the match with a double save just before the break when he first blocked Tim Klose's header and then saved from Alexander Esswein.

Nuremberg were clearly stronger in the second half and Timothy Chandler should have done better than shoot straight at Adler (48'). Hanno Balitsch headed a deflected shot just wide at the hour mark, but made amends only eight minutes later when he hit the net from close range after Per Nilsson's header rebounded off the bar. Westermann nearly equalised towards the end, but Schäfer denied his header with a wonderful save before Marcel Jansen almost snatched a point in the final minute, only for his header to hit the bar.