BERLIN: Hertha Berlin beat hosts Werder Bremen 4-1 in their Bundesliga opener on Saturday to earn their first win there in 14 years as they go into the season with renewed ambition.

Hertha barely had any chances until they struck twice in three minutes late in the first half. Peter Pekarik was left unmarked at the far post and tapped in for the lead in the 42nd minute.

Forward Dodi Lukebakio then stunned the hosts — and 8,500 home fans allowed to attend the match — firing in a second on the stroke of halftime.

With Werder forced to go forward, Hertha found the space to score again with Matheus Cunha wrongfooting keeper Jiri Pavlenka with a low shot before newcomer Jhon Cordoba added his first goal for the club in the 90th minute. Davie Selke had earlier cut the deficit in the 68th with a close-range header against his former club.

Freiburg were made to sweat against VfB Stuttgart, eventually edging past them 3-2 having gone 3-0 up only to see their opponents score twice late in the game.

Andrej Kramaric scored a hat-trick to hand Hoffenheim a 3-2 win at Cologne, who had equalised twice.

Treble winners Bayern Munich crushed Schalke 04 8-0 with a hat-trick from Serge Gnabry and a superb debut from Leroy Sane on Friday.

Gnabry grabbed his first goal for the hosts with a fine turn and shot in the fourth minute.

Schalke January, were helpless against Bayern’s lightning-quick game and Leon Goretzka found plenty of space to drive a low shot past keeper Ralf Faehrmann in the 19th minute.

Robert Lewandowski found the net with a 31st-minute penalty to become the first player to score in 10 successive appearances against the same Bundesliga opponents.

Gnabry then scored twice from Sane’s assists in the 47th and 59th before Thomas Mueller made it half a dozen after Lewandowski set him up with an impressive rabona kick.

Sane then scored h a fine finish. A little later substitute Jamal Musiala drilled in goal number eight to become the youngest ever Bayern scorer in the league at 17 years old.

Published in Dawn, September 20th, 2020