Anthony Modeste's goalscoring debuts for Hoffenheim and Cologne
The schedule for the 2017/18 Bundesliga and Bundesliga 2 fixtures is to be announced by the DFL Deutsche Fußball Liga on 29 June. What better time, then, to look back at some of the most memorable opening-day debuts in Bundesliga history?
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Up next: Anthony Modeste’s goalscoring debuts for Hoffenheim and Cologne.
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Modeste enjoyed his most prolific campaign to date last season, scoring 25 Bundesliga goals - only Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Robert Lewandowski managed more - to help Cologne to a fifth-place finish and a place in the group stages of next season’s UEFA Europa League.
The former Hoffenheim striker burst onto the Bundesliga scene on Matchday 1 of the 2013/14 season, scoring in the Sinsheim club’s 2-2 draw with Nuremberg at the WIRSOL Rhein-Neckar-Arena. The Frenchman went on to score 17 times in 55 league appearances for Hoffenheim before joining Cologne in the summer of 2015.
His man-of-the-match performance in the Billy Goats’ opening-day victory at Stuttgart was a sign of things to come. Modeste scored one and assisted another as Peter Stöger’s side won 3-1 at the Mercedes-Benz-Arena - a victory that set the tone for an impressive top-half finish in 2015/16.
Modeste netted 15 of Cologne’s 38 Bundesliga goals that season, before finishing third behind Aubameyang and Lewandowski in the 2016/17 Bundesliga goalscoring chart with 25 strikes.
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