New signing Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang enjoyed a dream Bundesliga debut on Saturday, scoring a hat-trick to steer last year’s runners-up Borussia Dortmund to a 4-0 win at Augsburg in their first league match of the season.
The weekend was also marked by controversy as TSG 1899 Hoffenheim were denied a Kevin Volland goal in their 2-2 draw against Nuremberg, despite replays showing that the ball crossed the line before bouncing out.
The incident is bound to raise the issue of goal-line technology in Germany, which the country’s soccer federation has said it will not use until at least 2015.
Photo: Reuters
Gabon international Aubameyang, who joined from France’s AS Saint-Etienne for a reported 13 million euros (US$17.36 million) last month, put the visitors ahead with a diving header in the 24th minute and slotted home from the left midway through the second half.
The 24-year-old completed his remarkable debut by picking up a superb Robert Lewandowski pass to round Augsburg goalkeeper Mohamed Amsif 11 minutes from time.
“That was a super start for me,” a beaming Aubameyang said. “The intensity in the league here is much higher than in France. Our aim is to work hard and see what is possible in this season.”
Poland international Lewandowski, who had wanted to move to Bayern Munich, but saw the transfer blocked by his club, got onto the score sheet himself with an 86th minute penalty.
“I told my players it would be tough and there are not many teams who will win 4-0 here,” Dortmund coach Juergen Klopp said.
“We scored some great goals and finished off the game,” he added.
Hertha BSC made a sensational return to top flight soccer in front of a 55,000 home crowd in Berlin’s Olympic Stadium, crushing Eintracht Frankfurt 6-1, with Sami Allagui scoring two goals in two minutes and Adrian Ramos adding two of his own.
Hertha also hit the woodwork three times in the first half. Champions League participants Bayer 04 Leverkusen, third last season, struck twice early in the second half in a 3-1 win over SC Freiburg, who had canceled out Stefan Kiessling’s opener with a Mike Hanke goal just before the break.
Two goals from South Korea’s Heung Min-son and Sidney Sam in the 46th and 52nd minute killed off Freiburg’s hopes of a point.
Hanover 96 beat nine-man VfL Wolfsburg 2-0 after the visitors had Maximilian Arnold and Timm Klose sent off.
Promoted Eintracht Braunschweig’s return to the Bundesliga after 28 years was spoiled by a 1-0 Werder Bremen win, with Zlatko Junuzovic snatching the goal eight minutes from time.
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
HSIEH MAKES QUARTERS: Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens of Belgium won in the women’s doubles and face Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Sofia Kenin of the US Top-ranked Iga Swiatek and US Open champion Coco Gauff were knocked out of the women’s singles at the Miami Open on Monday, while Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei advanced in the women’s doubles. Swiatek lost to Ekaterina Alexandrova 6-4, 6-2, hours after third seed Gauff fell in three sets to No. 23 Caroline Garcia 6-3, 1-6, 6-2. Alexandrova beat a top-ranked player for the first time and advanced to face Jessica Pegula, a 7-6 (7/1), 6-3 winner over Emma Navarro, in the quarter-finals. Alexandrova recorded her second win over Swiatek, following a 2021 victory in Melbourne. Swiatek had won their three matches since. “We played quite