Defender Daniel van Buyten scored with a late header on Saturday to give Bayern Munich a 2-1 victory over Nuremberg in the Bundesliga.
Nuremberg nearly soured the start of Munich’s Oktoberfest after Maxim Choupo-Moting had canceled out Ivica Olic’s goal for Bayern, but the burly van Buyten rose to head in Arjen Robben’s cross and seal Bayern’s victory.
In other games, Cologne won their first game of the season by beating Stuttgart 2-0 on the road and Hoffenheim also won away by coming from behind to beat Borussia Moenchengladbach 4-2. Hannover and Borussia Dortmund drew 1-1, while Mainz also won on the road, rallying to beat Bochum 3-2.
Bayern Munich coach Louis van Gaal rested Franck Ribery and his team had few chances in the first half against Nuremburg.
Ribery came on for Gomez in the second half and Bayern’s game picked up pace.
Mueller fed Olic in the 55th minute, slipping a short pass behind Nuremberg’s defense and the quick forward scored from close range.
Nuremberg had relied on a well-organized defense, but they showed in the 73rd minute that they can attack too, when Ilkay Guendogan drew four Bayern defenders before releasing Choupo-Moting, who slotted past Joerg Butt in the Bayern goal.
When the home fans were beginning to worry that Bayern could lose points at home to their Bavarian rivals, Robben sent a floating cross into the box and van Buyten scored the winner.
In Stuttgart, Zvonimir Soldo notched his first Bundesliga victory as coach of Cologne at the club for which he played more than 300 games. The last time VfB Stuttgart beat Cologne was 13 years ago — and Soldo was one of the scorers.
Sebastian Freis scored after 25 minutes when Stuttgart lost possession in their own half. The second came after a huge mistake by Stuttgart goalkeeper Jens Lehmann, who came far off his line to challenge Manasseh Ishiaku and Wilfried Sanou drove the ball into an empty net from 40m.
Juan Arango and Roberto Colautti scored for Borussia Moenchengladbach, but Hoffenheim pulled one back through Sejad Salihovic and then struck three more in the last four minutes to join Bayern on 11 points. Maicosuel, Chinedu Obasi and Demba Ba secured the victory.
Andre Schuerrle, an 18-year-old striker, scored his first Bundesliga goals by notching the equalizer and then the winner for promoted Mainz against VfL Bochum. Mainz now have 11 points.
Nuri Sahin scored for Borussia Dortmund shortly before halftime in Hannover, but the home team equalized three minutes into the second half through Didier Ya Konan.
Bayer 04 Leverkusen go into today’s match at TSG 1899 Hoffenheim stung from their first league defeat in 16 months. Leverkusen were beaten 3-2 at home by RB Leipzig before the international break, the first loss since May last year for the reigning league and cup champions. While any defeat, particularly against a likely title rival, would have disappointed coach Xabi Alonso, the way in which it happened would be most concerning. Just as they did in the Supercup against VfB Stuttgart and in the league opener to Borussia Moenchengladbach, Leverkusen scored first, but were pegged back. However, while Leverkusen rallied late to
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