Borussia Dortmund

No doubt when Thomas Tuchel drifted to sleep on Friday evening, he didn't dream of a better start to life at the Signal Iduna Park than what he got in reality the following day. Facing the Bundesliga's third-best last season, Borussia Mönchengladbach, Tuchel's chargers meted out a 4-0 beating.

"We weren't expecting that,” Tuchel admitted after the game.

After a traumatic previous campaign, Dortmund's squad and fans were back at their best, feeding off of one another's energy.

“I had goose-bumps,” said Tuchel. “The atmosphere and passion from the fans was incredible.”

Dortmund's lead vocalists and star performers hit all the right notes on the pitch. There were exquisite exchanges between Shinji Kagawa, Marco Reus and Henrikh Mkhitaryan, and a new face emerged as well: 19-year-old holding midfielder Julian Weigl.

“He pushes himself as far as possible every day for the team,” Tuchel declared.

There were no individual stand-outs in the win for BVB. The key to Dortmund's success was that to a man, the squad showed concentration and the will to win. That's already a main change for the better over last season.

Andre Breitenreiter

Another team coming off the back of a poor season with a new coach and new players was Schalke. The club's desultory previous campaign saw Roberto Di Matteo lose his job, to be replaced by Andre Breitenreiter of relegated Paderborn.

It's extremely rare in the modern age of football for a coach who went down in his first season in the top flight to be rewarded with a job at a European qualified club. Breitenreiter, however, impressed not just Schalke, but all of the Bundesliga in his debut. And together with summer signings of two top Bundesliga names, Johannes Geis and Franco Di Santo, he's given Royal Blue fans hope of rejuvenation. That hope got off to a good start at becoming reality on Saturday.

Whilst maintaining defensive solidity, Breitenreiter fielded a refreshingly attacking line-up, including goal-scorers Klass-Jan Huntelaar and Eric-Maxim Choupo-Moting. And they showed faith in themselves, something the Royal Blues were sorely lacking last season. It's been quite a while since Schalke showed that sort of style.

Douglas Costa

Friday was a fine evening for the two new men on the block in Munich, Arturo Vidal and Douglas Costa, with Costa particularly suggesting that he's worth every cent of his not inconsiderable price-tag.

Whilst Vidal was brought in after Bastian Schweinsteiger's exit as a replacement, Costa gives Bayern the sort of player they've been waiting a number of years for. The relatively unknown Brazilian has proven to be direct, powerful and lethal - much like his opposite number, Arjen Robben. That's crucial given Franck Ribery's injury record.

Plus he's fast. Costa's best moment on Friday came when he chased down a ball that Usain Bolt would have struggled to keep in play, before flashing an outside-of-the-foot cross for Müller. Costa proved to be hard-working, too, as he kept up the hustle until the final minutes. Bayern's fans are going to have a lot of joy with this exuberant yet cut-throat performer.