Soccer: Dortmund run riot against Augsburg

BERLIN: 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. 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.