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Bundesliga Matchday 3: As it happened!

September 9, 2017

After Borussia Dortmund were frustrated by ten-man Freiburg, Bayern failed to capitalize, losing 2-0 to Hoffenheim thanks to a Mark Uth brace. Carlo Ancelotti was furious about the controversial first goal.

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Torjubel Fußball TSG 1899 Hoffenheim v FC Bayern München - Bundesliga
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/U. Anspach

Julian Nagelsmann maintains his undefeated record against Bayern Munich - a draw and two wins - as Hoffenheim join Borussia Dortmund and Hannover at the top of the league. In a first half dominated by Bayern, it seemed the Bavarians needed only to step up a gear to reward their superiority with a goal.

But that was precisely what they couldn't do and they were punished accordingly. Ancelotti will continue to complain about the first goal but Andre Kramaric's thrown-in was within the laws of the game. In the second half, there was more of the same. Bayern registered 23 shots on goal but only six could be described as on target and at all dangerous. 

By the full-time whistle, Thomas Müller, Robert Lewandowski, Franck Ribery, Arjen Robben, Kingsley Coman, James Rodriguez and Thiago Alcantara had failed to break down a Hoffenheim side deprived of their two best players from last season - Niklas Süle and Sebastian Rudy having both joined Bayern. 

Was that Ancelotti's plan? Just flood the field with star names? It didn't work. His opposite number Nagelsmann certainly had a plan and his team stuck to it. That won't have escaped the attention of Uli Hoeness and Karl-Heinz Rummenigge sat in the stands ... 

--- FULL-TIME! Hoffenheim 2-0 Bayern Munich --- 

95' Hummels snaps into Amiri on the edge of the box, gives away a free kick and picks up a yellow card. 

90' Into stoppage time ... all five minutes of it

87' James sends an aimless cross flying across the face of goal ... no one anywhere near it. Cue frustration from Thomas Müller, now sat on the bench. 

86' The clock keeps ticking down but despite the array of stars on the pitch, Bayern are struggling to create any meaningful chances. 

80' Good save! Martinez heads towards goal from James' cross but Baumann is equal to it! Is time running out for Bayern?

79' Bayern forward line in the final ten minutes: Thiago, Lewandowski, Ribery, Robben, Coman, James. But Hoffenheim remain solid. 

76' Now Müller stretches to control Tolisso's long ball but the pass is overhit. James Rodriguez and Franck Ribery are set to come on for Bayern. 

73' Thomas Müller is unmarked at the back post but sends an aimless header looping over the bar. Not sure what that was meant to be - a shot? A lob back across goal? No idea. He's had better games in his previous 399 outings ... 

Fußball TSG 1899 Hoffenheim v FC Bayern München - Bundesliga
What's Ancelotti's plan? Does he have one?Image: Imago/Thomas Frey

71' Polanski fires wide of Neuer's post.

70' Lewandowski twists and turns in the box but his low shot is ultimately straight at Baumann. Lovely footwork from the Pole but could he not have shot first time with his left? 

68' Kimmich sums up Bayern's afternoon. He has all the space in the world on the right wing but sends a looping cross out of play on the other side. 

59' "Zieht den Bayern die Lederhosen aus!" sing the happy Hoffenheim fans - a song about relieving the Bavarians of their shorts. Müller fires into the side netting. 

57' Substition: Defensive midfielder Sebastian Rudy is replaced by Dutch winger Arjen Robben, scorer of so many late Bayern goals. Franck Ribery is warming up, too. Attack, attack, attack for the champions now. 

50' GOAL! Hoffenheim 2-0 Bayern Munich (Uth)
Just as it seems Bayern might be getting back into the game again, Hoffenheim strike again! Steven Zuber cuts the ball back to Mark Uth who is stood in yards of space on the penalty spot and sweeps home past Neuer. Two-nil! 

49' Chance! And a lovely move from Bayern. Rafinha plays the ball in to Müller who flicks in nonchalantly on to Lewandowski but the Pole curls his shot quite a distance wide from an admittedly tight angle. He was also marginally offside. 

47' According to broadcaster SKY, Carlo Ancelotti remains absolutely furious over Hoffenheim's goal. He's convinced it shouldn't have stood and told the referee as much at half time. 

--- KICK-OFF! We're back underway in the second half, no changes from either side --- 

--- HALF-TIME: Hoffenheim 1-0 Bayern Munich ---

45' Bayern have a free-kick deep on the right-hand-side which Rudy floats in enticingly. Corentin Tolisso has a free header in the middle but aims straight at Baumann. 

42' Great save! Hoffenheim starting to get more a grip of the midfield and Mark Uth drives forward. Bayern back off and back off, encouraging him to shoot which he does, hard and low. But Neuer gets down well to save. 

35' There was a bit of controversy over that goal which the Bayern bench weren't happy about.

Having conceded the throw-in, Mats Hummels booted the ball up in the air in frustration and it landed deep in the Hoffenheim half, meaning there were two balls on the pitch by the time Uth latched on to Kramaric's throw. But according to the Laws Of The Game, "the referee is only required to stop play should the second ball be influencing the game."

Which, in this case, it wasn't. So the goal's fine by us. Nice try, Bayern. 

30' Bayern look to hit back from that set-back with a free-kick on the edge of the box - which Lewandowski curls just over. The pace of Bayern's play hasn't changed since the goal - and perhaps that's the problem. They had the chance to up the tempo and punish Hoffenheim but didn't, and they haven't responded yet either. 

27' GOAL! 1-0 Hoffenheim (Uth)
Well! Hoffenheim have absorbed the pressure and then taken the lead after Bayern go to sleep. Mats Hummels clears the ball, but with his back turned, Kramaric takes the throw-in quickly. Uth latches onto the ball thrown into the space behind Mats Hummels and slams in a goal inside the near post. So much for that dominance, Bayern!

24' Bayern still enjoying the lion's share of possession but Sebastian Rudy appears to limping a bit in the centre circle and holding his hip. We'll keep an eye on him ... Bayern give the impression that they could up the tempo at any time here, and that might be what's needed.

19' Thiago's cross from the left wing is just too long for Lewandowski at the back post. 

17' Kingsley Coman beats his man on the left and gets to the by-line. He cuts back but Hoffenheim can clear. At the other end, 19-year-old Dennis Geiger sends his cross long. 

16' The travelling Bayern Munich hardcore are creating an absolute racket in the away end. A complete contrast to the atmosphere at their home games. Will their efforts be rewarded with a goal? Their team are dominating proceedings so far. 

Fußball TSG 1899 Hoffenheim v FC Bayern Muenchen - Bundesliga
Image: Getty Images/Bongarts/A. Grimm

15' Sebastian Rudy with a strong but fair tackle to stop his former colleague Andre Kramaric in his tracks on the Hoffenheim left. 

13' A long ball forward almost finds Uth in space but Manuel Neuer is quickly off his line to clear up the danger. 

11' First half-chance for the hosts. Mark Uth spreads the ball wide to Andre Kramaric who dribbles forward but there's a misunderstanding with Uth who fails to read the Croatian's pass and the attack breaks down. 

7' First big chance for Bayern! Rafinha drives down the centre of the pitch and lays it off to Müller on the Bayern left. The Bavarian takes a touch before floating a perfect cross in to the near post where Robert Lewandowski's shot bounces up onto the bar. Should have scored. 

5' In his previous 399 appearances for Bayern, Thomas Müller has experienced 285 victories, scored 161 goals and assisted 101 more. As for the opening stages here, little happening except for Rafinha receiving treatment after a foul by Mark Uth, but he's back up and running. 

--- KICK OFF ---
We're underway. Last season's fourth-placed team against perennial champions Bayern. 

Julian Nagelsmann to broadcaster Sky ahead of kick-off: "We are always motivated to play Bundesliga games, but playing Bayern is something special." Indeed it is, Julian. It's a special day for Thomas Müller as well as he makes his 400th appearance! 

Hello and welcome back to DW's Bundesliga's Matchday 3 coverage.

Kick-off between Hoffenheim and Bayern is fifteen minutes away and here's the team news, with Sebastian Rudy starting for the champions against his former colleagues. Niklas Süle is on the bench with James Rodriguez, Arjen Robben and Franck Ribery. Not bad, eh?

So, that's that for the time being! Catch up on the action as it happened below and we'll be back shortly with today's main event: TSG 1899 Hoffenheim vs Bayern Munich

Despite 83% possession, 27 shots and a 91% pass completion rate, Borussia Dortmund failed to break down ten-man Freiburg. Frenchman Yoric Ravek was given his marching orders by the video assistant referee (VAR) for a late challenge on Marcel Schmelzer which saw the Dortmund captain taken to hospital. 

In the Lower Saxony derby, Martin Harnik rescued a point for Hannover after Daniel Didavi had given Wolfsburg the lead from a free-kick. 

After two defeats in their opening two games (both against newly-promoted opposition), it was a whole new Mainz side who came from behind to beat Bayer Leverkusen 3-1. Yoshinori Muto scored the pick of the goals with an acrobatic volley. 

Cologne's miserable start to the season continued as they crashed to a 3-0 defeat in Augsburg, while Kevin-Prince Boateng's early goal was enough for Eintracht Frankfurt as they beat Borussia Mönchengladbach 1-0. 

--- FULL TIME ---

SC Freiburg 0-0 Borussia Dortmund
Borussia Mönchengladbach 0-1 Eintracht Frankfurt
Augsburg 3-0 Cologne
Mainz 3-1 Bayer Leverkusen
Wolfsburg 1-1 Hannover

90+4' GOAL! Augsburg 3-0 Cologne (Finnbogason)
With Cologne pouring (well, slowly moving) forward, Augsburg break with Cordova. His shot comes back off the post to Finnbogason who rolls it into the empty net for his hat-trick, capping off a miserable afternoon for Cologne. Three games, three defeats. Next up: Arsenal (a), Dortmund (a). 

88' This picture sums up proceedings in Freiburg - where Borussia Dortmund still can't find a breakthrough! 

87' The anti-DFB protests have continued as well this weekend. This is the message from the travelling Cologne fans in Augsburg:

81' Goal for Dortmund!? Or maybe not! Aubameyang has the ball in the net but the referee has pulled play back for a foul on Sokratis! "Was!?" exclaim Dortmund ... "What!?" 

79' Sub! Andriy Yarmolenko replaces Mario Götze. Will it be a dream debut for the Ukrainian as Dortmund search for a winner?

74' GOAL! Wolfsburg 1-1 Hannover (Harnik)
Ihlas Bebou dribbles into the box on the right wing with a clever piece of skill and cuts back to Jonathas whose initial short-range effort is going wide but is inexplicably kept in play by a Wolfsburg shirt. It bounces back to Harnik who finishes off with a clever flick. All square!

71' GOAL! Mainz 3-1 Leverkusen (Serdar)
Leverkusen are giving Cologne are run for their money when it comes to poor defending. Four defenders surround Öztunali but he's still able to lay the ball back to Serdar whose shot takes a slight deflection off Mehmedi and goes in off the post. 

66' Nuri Sahin's free-kick goes straight into the wall. Dortmund are camped in the Freiburg half, moving the ball from side to side but, one Aubameyang run aside, are lacking penetration so far. 25 minutes for Freiburg to hold on ... 

55' What a save! Lukas Hradecky with a stunning stop to tip Lars Stindl's long-range effort over the bar.

54' GOAL! Mainz 2-1 Leverkusen (Diallo)
Abdou Diallo sneaks infront of Adler to glance Öztunali's free-kick in at the near post. A clever header from the ex-Monaco man and Mainz have turned this one around. 

52' GOAL! Wolfsburg 1-0 Hannover (Didavi)
Daniel Didavi's free-kick is a long way out and it's not particularly well hit, but it sneaks through the wall at about shoulder-height, takes an odd bounce infont of goal, and tucks itself away in the corner of Casteels' net. An odd goal but Wolfsburg won't care! They lead in the derby! 

46' Dortmund's best chance of the game so far. Götze picks out Pulisic after the American makes a darting run into the box. The teenager controls with his right and shoots with his left, but Schwolow stands tall and parries well. 

This is going to be a long, long second half for Christian Streich and Freiburg ...

--- KICK-OFF - We're underway across the board in the second half --- 

Right, let's have a chat about that Freiburg video-assisted red card. 

Yoric Ravet is late, nowhere near the ball and has his studs up. It's reckless and it's caused an injury serious enough for Marcel Schmelzer to be taken to hospital for a check. Personally, we think it's a red and the VAR in Cologne clearly thinks so too. 

But one could equally argue that it wasn't malicious and that it only merited a yellow, which is what referee Benjamin Cortus believed. It's subjective. Both Cortus and the VAR saw the tackle and reached different conclusions. Which should we believe? The referee who saw the incident live and judged accordingly? Or the VAR who saw it on a screen and thought differently? 

This one is going to rumble on ... Tell us what you think on Twitter @dw_sports! 

--- HALF-TIME --- 

SC Freiburg 0-0 Borussia Dortmund
Borussia Mönchengladbach 0-1 Eintracht Frankfurt
Augsburg 2-0 Cologne
Mainz 1-1 Bayer Leverkusen
Wolfsburg 0-0 Hannover

45' Five minutes injury time in Freiburg after the injury to Marcel Schmelzer. Dortmund are dominating with 80% possession and a 90% pass completion rate. But the ten-men of Freiburg are holding on. 

45' GOAL! Mainz 1-1 Leverkusen (Muto)
Brosinki drives into the box on the Mainz left, beats his man with a neat step-over and crosses for Muto. The ball is slightly behind the Japanese striker but he still manages to volley acrobatically into the net. Fantastic finish! 

36' Few opportunities for either side in Wolfsburg but Mario Gomez has had the hosts' best chance in the derby. Played in by Guilavogui, the German striker beats Tschauner to the ball but appears to get his studs caught in the turf as he shoots. He collides with the goalkeeper and has to receive treatment. He's now back on the pitch and the derby continues ... 

32' GOAL! Augsburg 2-0 Cologne (Finnbogason - pen)
More clumsy defending from Cologne and this time German international Jonas Hector is the culprit, bringing Marcel Heller to ground in the box. Finnbogason steps up and fires the spot-kick past Timo Horn. 

Cologne will be in big, big trouble if they don't sort this out before Arsenal on Thursday ... 

27' RED CARD! Yoric Ravet (Freiburg)
The Frenchman catches Dortmund captain Marcel Schmelzer on the ankle with a very late challenge where he had no chance of getting to the ball. Schmelzer is down injured. Ravet has been booked but the referee has consulted the video assistant ... and it's red!

Christian Streich applauds sarcastically but it's hard to argue with the decision. A needless, late challenge and Schmelzer is stretchered off. The Freiburg fans sing some less than complimentary songs about the DFB ...

22' GOAL! Mainz 0-1 Leverkusen (Kohr)
Wendell drives through midfield with a powerful run and plays in Kohr, who gives Adler no chance with a confident finish. Lovely goal and all credit to Wendell for the run and pass.

22' GOAL! Augsburg 1-0 Cologne (Finnbogason)
Well, it's been coming. Cologne's defense all over the place and not learning their lessons. This time it's Finnbogason who is left completely unmarked in between Sörensen and Heintz and heads the hosts into thelead.

20' More awful defending from Cologne. From a corner, Martin Hinteregger heads over unmarked. 

13' GOAL! Borussia Mönchengladbach 0-1 Eintracht Frankfurt (Boateng)

Boateng makes up for his earlier moment of madness! The new arrival from Las Palmas pounces when Gladbach fail to clear a long thrown and Frankfurt take the lead! A minute later, he almost makes it two with a good header but Sommer is equal to it. 

10' Still scoreless in Mönchengladbach too but Kevin-Prince Boateng has prevented his Eintracht Frankfurt team from scoring - by scoring himself! Let us explain... 

With the ball rolling towards the line from Haller, Boateng decides to finish it off himself - but he's offside! Not a good start! 

6' What a chance for Freiburg! After good link-up play between Haberer and Ravet, Kleindienst finds himself one-on-one with Bürki but can only shoot straight at the keeper. Huge chance. 

6' In Augsburg, Jhon Cordoba turns quickly in the box for Cologne but his shot is blocked. At the other end, a mix-up in the visitors' defence almost allows Finnbogason to get in, but Sörensen clears. Poor defending!

2' Hannover new boy Jonathas scored within five minutes of his introduction against Schalke last time out and almost opened the scoring even earlier here! But he fires Martin Harnik's cross over. 

1' Max Philipp has his first chance to run at his former Freiburg colleagues but is quickly closed down. Mario Götze takes over but is also quickly stifled. A sign of things to come from BVB? 

KICK OFF! We're underway on Saturday on Matchday 3

-- Interestingly, Hannover coach Andre Breitenreiter is still unbeaten - 12 games into his tenure! Can local rivals Wolfsburg change that today? 

-- His opposite number in the Black Forest this afternoon, the eloquent and ever-thoughtful Christian Streich, has made five changes to the team which took the lead against RB Leipzig last week before ultimately losing 4-1. He gave broadcaster SKY a tactical insight:

"RB played through the centre a lot with Marcel Sabitzer and Emil Forsberg but Dortmund prefer to play down the wings with Christian Pulisic and Max Philipp. We want to press them high and exploit the spaces they leave in behind."

Let's see if it works ...

-- Despite (incredibly) conducting even more transfers this summer than in summer 2016, Borussia Dortmund's 30-man squad is still on the large side. But Peter Bosz isn't concerned, saying: "We need good players and that's what we have. We need this squad."

He also explained why new man Andriy Yarmolenko has been selected to start on the bench:

-- Leverkusen have undergone significant changes themselves. The managerial merry-go-round continues with Heiko Herrlich now in charge, while Javier Hernandez, Kevin Kampl, Hakan Calhanoglu and Ömer Toprak have all left the club. The pressure is on Julian Brandt, Kerim Bellarabi and Kevin Volland to fill the gaps. 

-- On Matchday 2, this writer had the dubious pleasure of seeing 1.FSV Mainz 05 become the first ever Bundesliga team to lose both of their two opening fixtures to promoted sides, as the "Zerofivers" lost 1-0 to Hannover and then to Stuttgart. They lost a significant amount of goal-scoring potential when Yunus Malli left for Wolfsburg last winter, and even more when Jhon Cordona joined Cologne.

The responsibility now falls to Yoshinori Muto as Mainz welcome Bayer Leverkusen ... 

-- It was a dream start for Borussia Mönchengladbach fans when they beat local rivals Cologne on Matchday 1 - a performance far more comprehensive than the 1-0 scoreline suggested. But they lacked concentration away at Augsburg last time out, conceding in the first and last minutes and settling for a 2-2 draw. 

Today, they welcome Eintracht Frankfurt in one of the most traditional fixtures the Bundesliga has to offer. Dieter Hecking has selected the same line-up for the third game in a row - Zakaria, Hazard, Stindl, Herrmann and Raffael offering no shortage of creativity. 

English defender Reece Oxford, on loan from West Ham United, is still waiting to make his Foals debut. 

-- Hannover were many people's favorites to go down this season, such was their uninspiring squad and controversy off the pitch. But after 1-0 wins against Mainz and Schalke, they find themselves as one of only three clubs with a 100% record - the other two being Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich. 

Hannover were expected to sit back against Schalke last week but instead came out and dictated play. In new signing Jonathas, they have recruited a journeyman who has scored goals wherever he has played - and the Brazilian was on target just five minutes after coming off the bench against Schalke. "I play football with my head and my body - I'm a worker," he told kicker this week. He leads the line in a local derby away at Wolfsburg. 

-- Ten thousand Cologne fans are expected to travel to London in the week as "FC" return to Europe for the first time in 25 years against Arsenal. But despite all the Europa League euphoria, Cologne have made a poor start domestically, losing away to rivals Gladbach on day one before HSV took them apart on the counter-attack last time out. 

Coach Peter Stöger says they have simply "pressed the reset button" during the international break and want to make a fresh start against Ausgburg - a bogey team they haven't beaten in seven years. 17-million-euro arrival from Mainz, Jhon Cordoba, again starts up front for the goal-shy Billy Goats. 

-- After the turbulence of last season, Borussia Dortmund have a much more serene start under new coach Peter Bosz. After wins away at Wolfsburg and at home to Hertha Berlin, they are yet to concede and will be looking to extend that record away at Freiburg. 

Max Philipp starts up front against his old club while Andriy Yarmolenko is on the bench. New teenage signing Jadon Sancho hasn't yet received clearance to play for the first team but is in action for BVB's U23s. 

It's Dortmund's second visit to the Schwarzwaldstadion already this season - they beat sixth-tier Rielasingen-Arlen there in the cup last month. 

-- Good afternoon and welcome to DW's live Bundesliga coverage. Matchday 3 got underway last night as impressive goals from Naby Keita and Timo Werner saw RasenBallsport Leipzig beat Hamburg 2-0. Here's what's in store for us today: 

SC Freiburg vs Borussia Dortmund
Borussia Mönchengladbach vs Eintracht Frankfurt
Augsburg vs Cologne
Mainz vs Bayer Leverkusen
Wolfsburg vs Hannover
Hoffenheim vs Bayern Munich (18:30 CET)