Winners and Losers from Bundesliga Week 3
Bundesliga burst back into action after the international break.
Bayer Leverkusen relinquished their 100 percent record but remain top of the table. Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund moved into position behind the leaders with comfortable victories.
Sorry Schalke slipped to another defeat, while it was quite a day for both Shinjis—Kagawa and Okazaki.
We reveal the winners and losers from Matchday 3 of Germany's "League of World Champions."
Winner: Shinji Kagawa
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Who writes Shinji Kagawa's scripts?
Kagawa enjoyed a dream start to his second spell with the club.
The Japanese star has returned to his spiritual home in Dortmund after Louis van Gaal decided he was surplus to requirements at Manchester United.
Kagawa played a major part in Borussia's opening goal on 34 minutes. His slide-rule ball found the galloping Kevin Grosskreutz, who crossed for Adrian Ramos to fire BVB ahead against Freiburg.
Kagawa failed to score at all over the course of last season for Manchester United. However, the 25-year-old took just 41 minutes to break his duck for Dortmund second time around.
Kagawa doubled the lead, slotting home confidently as the home side eventually ran out comfortable 3-1 winners.
The Japanese star went off to standing ovations while suffering with cramps just after the hour mark.
Winner: Tayfun Korkut
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Hanover 96 are this season's surprise package and separate the big guns of Bayer Leverkusen, Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund in the table.
Hanover's 2-0 win in Sunday's "North Derby" against Hamburg (HSV) preserved their unbeaten start to the season.
Tayfun Korkut has done an impressive job in Northern Germany since taking over from Mirko Slomka last December.
Interestingly, Slomka was in charge of the visitors from Hamburg on Sunday.
Korkut is only the second Turk ever to coach a side in the Bundesliga's top tier after Ozcan Arkoc in 1977-78 with HSV.
Losers: Fallen Giants
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Former Bundesliga champions Hamburg, Stuttgart, Werder Bremen and Wolfsburg all remain winless after three league games.
2007 winners Stuttgart languish one place off the bottom and are also out of the German Cup.
Despite adding the likes of Lewis Holtby and Julian Green during the transfer window, Hamburg are bottom of the heap and have yet to score in the league.
Winners: Augsburg
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Augsburg moved off the bottom of the table with a first win of the season in Frankfurt.
Raul Bobadilla's goal just after half-time was enough to move the Fuggers six places up the table.
Loser: Holger Badstuber
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Holger Badstuber's injury jinx continues.
Badstuber hobbled off with a thigh tear just before half-time in Munich.
The German international defender has only just returned to Bundesliga action after 20 months out with a catalogue of knee problems.
The next surgery awaits.
Badstuber is no stranger to this with four operations over the past two years. Realistically, he has played his last game in 2014.
Get well soon, Holger!
"A devastated @Badstuber: "I'm disappointed but no worries - I'll be back. I'm not giving up!" More to come on http://t.co/eqrJtcDvMv soon.
— FC Bayern English (@FCBayernEN) September 14, 2014"
Winner: Shinji Okazaki
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Shinji Okazaki scored a goal in each half as Mainz sealed their first win of the season in the German capital against Hertha Berlin.
With the brace, Okazaki becomes the most prolific Japanese goalscorer in Bundesliga history with 28 goals.
Goal! Goal! Nippon!
Winner: Andre Hahn
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Andre Hahn was Borussia Monchengladbach's star man in the crushing 4-1 win over hapless Schalke.
Hahn fired his first two league goals for the Foals in a dominant display.
On this form, the ex-Augsburg attacker can add to his solitary cap for Germany.
Winner: Ivica Olic
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Croatian striker Ivica Olic turns 35 on Sunday. The ex-Bayern striker is still going strong for club and country.
Olic proved that age is no barrier with a precious last-minute equaliser for Wolfsburg against Hoffenheim.
"67 - Ivica Olic scored his 67th BL goal, tying him with Marco Reus at 5th among current BL players - he will be 35 tomorrrow. Congrats.
— OptaFranz (@OptaFranz) September 13, 2014"
Happy Birthday!
Loser: Schalke 04
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Schalke slipped to another sorry defeat against Borussia Monchengladbach on Saturday. The 4-1 drubbing in North-Rhine Westphalia further increased the pressure on under-fire coach Jens Keller.
The Royal Blues are without a win in the league and already out of the German Cup after losing to third-division Dynamo Dresden.
To put it mildly, Schalke are a shambles ahead of a tricky trip to England to play high-flying Chelsea in the Champions League.
How much more misery can Keller and Schalke endure?
Winner: Franck Ribery
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Bayern Munich's Franck Ribery got the first competitive minutes of the season under his belt in a routine 2-0 win over VfB Stuttgart.
Ribery missed the World Cup for France with a nagging back injury and has struggled to overcome a kneecap problem in recent weeks.
The Frenchman capped his return with the goal that put struggling Stuttgart out of their misery in Munich.
Ribery fired home with five minutes left to seal the points, after replacing the Bavarians' other goalscorer, Mario Gotze, on 68 minutes.
Ribery's goal clinched Bayern's 12th competitive win in a row against Stuttgart.
Follow Mark Lovell @LovellLowdown.
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