Douglas Costa Makes His Mark as Bayern Munich Start Bundesliga Season in Style

Bayern Munich began their journey for the 2015-16 Bundesliga title in fine form on Friday, as they hammered Hamburg 5-0 at the Allianz Arena. Although the visitors managed to take just a 1-0 deficit into half-time, a late onslaught of three goals in the final quarter of the game gave Bayern a comfortable victory.

Medhi Benatia opened the scoring with a header, before Robert Lewandowski made it 2-0 early in the second half. Then Thomas Muller added a quick-fire brace within four minutes. But perhaps the most significant goal of the game came three minutes from full-time, as Douglas Costa opened his scoring account at Bayern in competitive football.

In the context of the game, Costa's goal was of little significance—the fifth goal in a 5-0 rout is never worth much toward the result. And it came somewhat fortuitously, given that Matthias Ostrzolek made the mistake of assuming he'd won a free-kick before the ball was taken off his foot. However, Costa's exquisite, curling finish into the bottom-left corner was huge for the Brazilian on a personal level, and for his status within the Bayern team.

Few will be surprised by Costa's performance on Friday, which also included a surging run up the right flank punctuated by a gorgeous cross to Muller for Bayern's third goal. The ex-Shakhtar Donetsk winger was brilliant in the pre-season, perhaps Bayern's top performer. He integrated immediately—and unexpectedly for many.

Yet, by comparison, Lewandowski had an outstanding pre-season a year ago, also heading into his first campaign at Bayern, but struggled in the first half of the season and wasn't even first choice when Bayern took on Shakhtar in the Champions League in February.

The Poland international pinged in goals left and right in test matches, yet when the time came to deliver in the matches that mattered, he wasn't quite ready. His confidence suffered as a result.

To his great fortune, Lewandowski's only "competition" was the aging Claudio Pizarro, who never stood a chance. That's why the former Borussia Dortmund striker was given the benefit of the doubt, and Pep Guardiola was patient with him.

In Costa's situation, a slow start could have been more damaging to his prospects as a Bayern player. And indeed, it could still; he only has one good regular-season game.

There is real quality behind him on the bench in the form of the iconic Franck Ribery, who despite his advanced years may still have something left in the tank, and World Cup winner Mario Gotze. And given that the former is approaching fitness after a long-term injury and the latter did well off the bench on Friday, there could be some serious competition for the new signing in the weeks to come.

It's important to bear in mind that Costa was never much of a scorer at Shakhtar, and he scored a very modest seven goals his most prolific season prior. One of the biggest concerns over his skill set was that he often lacked an end product to all his fine technical skills and explosive pace on the wing.

Therefore, Costa putting his best foot forward in his Bundesliga debut was extremely important for his career at Bayern. The Brazilian made a statement of intent with such a fine performance. He was just as important to Bayern's victory as any other player, and the goal could give him an enormous boost of confidence.

It's one thing to impress against lower-division opponents in meaningless pre-season matches, but it's another to do so when real Bundesliga points are on the line.

He turned heads in pre-season and, critically, made his mark from the opening match when it started to count. He still has something to prove, but with his best years ahead of him, the 24-year-old could well become a real superstar.

@Mr_Bundesliga