The winners, the losers

Bayern Munich were fortunate to scrape a late 1-0 victory away at Wolfsburg on a day that saw last year's champions Borussia Dortmund brought down to earth.

For Munich, it was Gustavo who saved the day following a battling performance from home side Wolfsburg.

There had been the prospect of defeat for the Bavarians, with Patrick Helmes heading into the net six minutes before halftime. However, with effort was ruled to have been offside and Bayern finally began to dominate after the break.

The visitors came close 12 minutes into the second half, Bastian Schweinsteiger setting up Toni Kroos, who drilled the ball wide.

While it did not appear to be their day for a time, Bayern kept up the pressure and were finally rewarded with Gustavo's goal on 91 minutes. The Brazilian was on target with a strike from the edge of the area. Goalkeeper Diego Benaglio got a fingertip on the ball but unable to save.

The win followed an opening day defeat for Bayern against Borussia Mönchengladbach last week.

"We were a little lucky but were a different team compared to the Mönchengladbach game," said Bayern's Franck Ribery. "The three points were very important."

Following strong showing for Dortmund last week, when they won 3-1 against Hamburg, the champions hit a stumbling block away from home.

Hoffenheim's Sejad Salihovic scored the one and only goal of the game, with a stunning 30-meter free kick after nine minutes. Dortmund were unable to bounce back, despite having the lion's share of possession.

"We worked hard for this victory," said new Hoffenheim coach Holger Stanislawski. "My boys had a lot of courage."

Another strong start

Mainz are on course to repeat their strong start last season, when they won their first seven games.

Two matches into the season, the team top the table after a 2-1 win in Freiburg thanks to second-half goals by Marcel Risse on 64 minutes and Eric Maxim Choupo Moting in the 79th.

Freiburg managed a goal in the 91st minute of play from Papiss Cisse, but it was too little, too late.

Hanover trail Mainz on goal difference, having won in Nuremberg through a first-half goal by Mohammed Abdellaoue and successfully converted penalty by Kinstantin Rausch. A 56th minute goal by Toma Peckhart saw the match finish 2-1.

Hamburg had the lead twice against Hertha Berlin, from a penalty by Mladen Petric and South Korean teenager Son Heung Min, but were finally only able to take one point from the game.

Former Hamburg player Tunay Torun equalized first, with team captain Andre Mijatovic ensuring that Hertha salvaged a draw in the 88th minute of the game.

Early lead, heavy defeat

Klaas-Jan Huntelaar scored three goals as Schalke thumped bottom club Cologne 5-1.

Cologne had led thanks to a goal from Lukas Podolski, before the goals from Huntelaar as well as goals from Lewis Holtby and Raul Gonzales gave Schalke their emphatic victory.

Mönchengladbach drew 1-1 with Stuttgart in Saturday's late football game. 'Gladbach had gone ahead through a 67th minute penalty from Filip Daems, with Cacau leveling the score three minutes from time.

Sunday's soccer action will see Kaiserslautern take on Augsburg and Werder Bremen away to Bayer Leverkusen.

Author: Richard Connor (dpa, Reuters)

Editor: Sean Sinico