Düsseldorf was buzzing as Fortuna played their first top flight home game in five years. But Friedhelm Funkel's side struggled in their season opener, showing issues that could haunt them in their Bundesliga return.
Image: Reuters/W. Rattay
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Despite losing 2-1 to Augsburg on Saturday, Fortuna Düsseldorf, last year's second division champions, had a decent showing in their first Bundesliga game in five years.
But this was not the attacking Fortuna, a team that scored 54 goals in the second division and entranced their home support last season. This Fortuna sat much deeper and did a reasonable job disrupting Augsburg's buildup play.
But two headers, both coming in the second half, undid all of their hard defensive work as the hosts relinquished a 1-0 halftime lead.
Funkel may have had reason to complain after the referee did not give a foul against Augsburg's Daniel Baier before the visitor's equalizer. But ultimately, his team did not get their Bundesliga campaign off to a good start.
Marcel Sobottka (left) makes one of several successful tackles for Fortuna DüsseldorfImage: picture-alliance/dpa/I. Fassbender
Adjustment period
Before the season, Funkel preached that his side could not be the uber-attacking force it was in the second division. He wants his men to sit deeper to compensate for the increased standard of play and knows that his team needs to work harder than their opponents in order to survive.
To a large degree, those qualities were on display on Saturday. Düsseldorf won 23 tackles in the contest, 11 more than Augsburg did. They often had at least five players sitting in their own penalty area and rarely had more than three players going forward.
But their defensive approach came at the expense of their attacking might. They only managed nine shots in the entire contest, and their first didn't come until a half an hour into the game.
Once Augsburg took the lead, Funkel was left desperately trying to save a point, not a scenario the veteran coach wants to be in at home.
There are three things you need to know about Funkel, a man a newspaper once described as "Funkeln ohne Glanze" (sparkle without shine).
Firstly, after a 17-year playing career and more than 800 games as a head coach since 1990, there are not many people who have spent more time in German football. He is also one of the best head coaches Germany's second division has ever seen, earning Bundesliga promotion six times with five different clubs. However, his track record in the Bundesliga isn't the best. His teams have lost twice as many games as they have won and he has never led a team to a finish higher than eighth.
Funkel seems the perfect coach for Düsseldorf, who are experiencing just their second season in the top flight since 1997. His 2. Bundesliga-winning side last season did not make many mistakes while holding the ball last season, possessing one of the best passing rates in the division and averaging a league-low 9.2 unsuccessful touches per game. Those positives point to the job the 64-year-old did, both on the training ground and on the touchline.
But his side will need to show much more pizazz up front, similar to what they did last term, if they want to remain in the Bundesliga.
Bundesliga Matchday 1 in pictures
New season, old controversies. Bayern Munich got off to a winning start but failed to really convince, much like VAR. Neither newly promoted side started well on Saturday while Schalke also slipped up at Wolfsburg.
Image: Reuters/M. Dalder
Wolfsburg 2 - 1 Schalke
Daniel Ginczek (pictured) followed a goal on his German Cup debut with a last gasp winner on his league debut as Wolfsburg took the points. John Brooks had earlier played hero and villain, powering home a header on his 100th Bundesliga appearance before making a dangerous tackle that allowed Nabil Bentaleb to equalize from the spot. Schalke had Matija Nastasic sent off after a VAR referral.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/T. Schwarz
Fortuna Düsseldorf 1 - 2 FC Augsburg
After five years away from the top table, it took Düsseldorf just 39 minutes to get back among the Bundesliga goals. Benito Raman nodded them in to a half time lead. But Martin Hinteregger pulled one back with his head before Andre Hahn (right) completed a hat trick of headers on his league debut for Augsburg to complete the comeback and secure Augsburg a first ever opening weekend Bundesliga win.
Image: imago/DeFodi
Hertha Berlin 1 - 0 Nuremburg
The other promoted side fared no better as Nuremberg fell to defeat in the capital. Hertha skipper Veded Ibisevic (19) took advantage of some brilliant work from Valentino Lazaro to stroke the hosts in front in the first half. Mikael Ishak wasted the chance to salvage a point for Nuremburg when he put his 85th minute penalty too close to keeper Rune Jarstein.
Image: imago/Zink
Freiburg 0 - 2 Eintracht Frankfurt
Nicolai Müller (left) loves to make an impact on the opening weekend. He scored the winner on his Frankfurt league debut on Saturday after joining from Hamburg, where he also scored on Matchday 1 of 2017-18, before injuring himself while celebrating. That injury kept him out until May and he was a little more careful this time round. Sebastien Haller sealed the Eagles the win late on.
Image: imago/J. Huebner
Werder Bremen 1 - 1 Hanover
It was all even in Bremen as the home team denied Hanover a winning start to the season. The guests had gone in front through debutant Hendrik Weydandt - who was playing amateur football four years ago - in the 76th minute. But with just five minutes to play, defender Theodor Gebre Selassie popped up with the equalizer for Bremen.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/C. Jaspersen
Borussia Mönchengladbach 2 - 0 Bayer Leverkusen
Gladbach got their campaign off to a great start with an entertaining win over fellow European hopefuls Leverkusen. Thorgan Hazard missed a first-half penalty, but Gladbach were given another chance from the spot in the 55th minute, with Jonas Hofmann making no mistake. Just three minute later, Fabian Johnson finished off a slick move to hand Gladbach a 2-0 victory.
Image: Getty Images/Bongarts/L. Baron
Mainz 1-0 Stuttgart
Mainz opened their season with all three points in what was a tight battle against Stuttgart. Mainz fielded their youngest ever Bundesliga team and the inexperienced side proved themselves more than a match for the Bundesliga. Anthony Ujah proved the difference, finishing off a counter-attack in the 76th minute to hand Mainz a 1-0 victory.
Image: Imago/Nordphoto/Fabisch
Borussia Dortmund 4-1 RB Leipzig
A successful Bundesliga debut for Lucien Favre as BVB coach. Despite Leipzig's Jean-Kevin Augustin scoring the fastest goal in Bundesliga history after just 32 seconds, the home side bounced back. Mahmoud Dahoud equalized with a spectacular header, Marco Reus assisted an own-goal and scored (90'), but Axel Witsel stole the show with a bicycle kick to hand the BVB a 4-1 victory.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/Revierp
Bayern Munich 3 - 1 Hoffenheim
Goals from the familiar trio of Thomas Müller, Robert Lewandowski and Arjen Robben took Bayern Munich to a hard-fought win in Niko Kovac's first league match in charge. But Hoffenheim were aggrieved at the dubious penalty that made it 2-1 just as the men in white threatened an upset. VAR made Bayern take the penalty again before ruling out another Müller goal. A strange way to start the season.
