Winners and Losers from Bundesliga Week 1
The Bundesliga is booming and set for a further boost on the back of Germany's World Cup success in Brazil.
The Germans can be rightly proud of their burgeoning product, as they welcomed the watching TV billions around the globe on Week 1 to the "League of the World Champions" as the 52nd Bundesliga campaign kicked off.
We reveal the winners and losers from the opening jousts in Germany, including the fastest-ever goal in Bundesliga history.
Winner: Christoph Kramer
1 of 10
World champion Christoph Kramer came off the bench and scored a last-minute equaliser for Borussia Monchengladbach against VfB Stuttgart for a 1-1 draw.
"GOAL! 89' @borussia_en's World Cup hero Christoph Kramer levels late on against @vfb #bmgvfb
— Bundesliga Live (@BL_Live_EN) August 24, 2014
"
Winner: Gianluca Gaudino
2 of 10
Who says Bayern Munich don't have a youth policy?
Pep Guardiola handed 17-year-old Gianluca Gaudino his first league start.
"#Gaudino makes his BL debut at 17 years and 284 days old. Only 3 Bayern players were younger: Hojbjerg, Alaba and Kroos. #fact #FCBayernLive
— FC Bayern English (@FCBayernEN) August 22, 2014
"
The son of former German international Maurizio Gaudino did not disappoint and never looked out of place in a dream debut for the Bavarians.
Loser: Jurgen Klopp
3 of 10
The effervescent Jurgen Klopp is now the longest-serving coach in the Bundesliga—having been in the hot seat at Dortmund since July 2008.
Klopp's charges already find themselves three points behind Bayern Munich in the title race after a dismal 2-0 home defeat against Leverkusen. It's hardly an ideal start for BVB, who have languished behind Bayern by 25 and 19 points in the past two seasons.
Klopp will be hoping the season follows a similar pattern to the last time his side lost to Leverkusen on the opening day of the campaign. On that occasion in 2010-11, Klopp's men coasted to the title.
Winner: Julian Schieber
4 of 10
Julian Schieber notched a debut double in Hertha's 2-2 draw against Werder Bremen.
The 25-year-old striker fired just three league goals in two seasons with Borussia Dortmund.
However, Schieber started the season as he means to go on with a brace in the German capital.
Loser: Jens Keller
5 of 10
It's been a nightmare week for under-fire Schalke coach Jens Keller.
His side were bundled out of the German Cup by third-division Dresden, then lost from a winning position in Hannover in the Bundesliga.
Rather like former Schalke coach Felix Magath in England with Fulham, Keller finds himself under serious pressure to turn results around quickly.
To add insult to injury, full-back Sead Kolasinac will be out until the new year after suffering a torn ACL.
Winner: Roger Schmidt
6 of 10
Leverkusen's new 47-year-old coach, Roger Schmidt, is enjoying a dream start to his tenure with the Rhine club.
The Werkself were mightily impressive with arguably the performance of the week during an energetic 2-0 away win at Borussia Dortmund.
Winner: Thomas Schaaf
7 of 10
It was somewhat strange to witness Thomas Schaaf barking orders from the sideline for Eintracht Frankfurt.
The 53-year-old was a fixture for 41 years at Werder Bremen as a player and coach.
"""STAT: 12' Today's game is number 480 for @eintracht_eng coach Thomas Schaaf as a Bundesliga coach #SGESCF
— Bundesliga Live (@BL_Live_EN) August 23, 2014"
Schaaf enjoyed a successful start to his time on the Main with a narrow 1-0 victory over Freiburg.
Winner: Juan Bernat
8 of 10
Juan Bernat was a candidate for Man of the Match in Bayern's narrow 2-1 victory over Wolfsburg.
The 21-year-old signing from Valencia was highly impressive on his Bundesliga debut, roaming the left flank with aplomb. Bernat was also there, when called upon, with some well-timed last-ditch tackles at the back.
Winner: Karim Bellarabi
9 of 10
Karim Bellarabi fired the fastest goal ever in Bundesliga history for Bayer Leverkusen in their 2-0 dismantling of Dortmund.
It took Bellarabi, who spent last season on loan at relegated Braunschweig (Brunswick), just nine seconds to open the scoring.
"Leverkusen’s Karim Bellarabi took all of nine seconds to score against Dortmund, a new Bundesliga record: https://t.co/Obd17LoVQ0
— Bleacher Report UK (@br_uk) August 23, 2014"
Historic.
Loser: Junior Malanda
10 of 10Junior Malanda should have equalised with 10 minutes to go for Wolfsburg against record German champions Bayern, who were leading 2-1.
All the big Belgian had to do from a yard out was to...
Oh dear. What a miss.
Follow Mark Lovell @LovellLowdown
.jpg?w=600 "Colts Release Kenny Moore")
