Berlin (dpa) – On the day the fans returned to the Bundesliga stadiums, Hertha BSC, SC Freiburg, TSG Hoffenheim and FC Augsburg got off to a good start into the new season.
The Berliners won 4-1 (2-0) at Werder Bremen, the sports club prevailed 3-2 (2-0) against newly promoted VfB Stuttgart. Thanks to three-time goalscorer Andrej Kramaric, Hoffenheim won 3: 2 (2: 1) at 1. FC Köln, and FCA 3: 1 (1: 0) at 1. FC Union Berlin.
Eintracht Frankfurt and the second promoted, Arminia Bielefeld, parted 1: 1 (0: 0). Triple winner FC Bayern took over the top of the table on Friday with an 8-0 win against FC Schalke 04.
After the federal states agreed on a uniform partial admission of spectators for up to 20 percent of the stadium capacity last Tuesday, several thousand visitors were again allowed into the stadiums over the weekend. “It’s wonderful, it feels like real football again,” said Werder coach Florian Kohfeldt before the kick-off at Sky.
In terms of sport, the start was very bad for the Bremen team. Peter Pekarik (42nd) and Dodi Lukebakio (45th + 2) gave Hertha a comfortable lead with two goals within a few minutes in front of 8,400 spectators. Matheus Cunha (62nd) was successful after the break. Ex-Hertha Davie Selke (69th) scored the connecting goal in Bremen, but Berlin’s newcomer Jhon Cordoba (90th) made everything clear.
In front of around 4,500 spectators, Union had to do without record man Christian Gentner, who had to be replaced in the 25th minute with a calf injury in his 409th Bundesliga game (most of all active professionals). Ruben Vargas (41st) scored for Augsburg before the break. Marius Bülter (75th) equalized before Michael Gregoritsch (82nd) brought Augsburg back into the lead and André Hahn (89th) scored the third FCA goal shortly before the end.
In Frankfurt, 6500 visitors were allowed into the stadium. “Finally there is life again in the booth,” said the stadium announcer. Both teams struggled for a long time on the pitch, Bielefeld took the lead in the second half through Cebio Soukou (51st), André Silva (62nd) equalized.
Promoted Stuttgart got off to a bad start, but made the game very exciting in the end. In front of 7,123 spectators in the Baden-Württemberg derby, Freiburg took an early lead through Nils Petersen (8th), Roland Sallai (26th) followed suit before Vincenzo Grifo (48th) made the alleged decision at the beginning of the second half. Substitute Sasa Kalajdzic (71st) and Silas Wamangituka (81st) scored for VfB.
In Cologne, the ranks remained empty, the city had temporarily withdrawn the permit for up to 9200 fans on Friday due to rising corona numbers. The outstanding Kramaric (4th, 45th + 3 / penalty and 90th) scored for TSG. The Cologne newcomer Sebastian Andersson (22nd) and Dominick Drexler (86th) achieved the interim equalization twice.
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