Borussia Dortmund substitute Jonas Hofmann scored one goal and earned a penalty in an unconvincing 2-1 win over promoted Eintracht Braunschweig in the Bundesliga on Sunday.
Seven minutes after coming on, Hofmann broke the deadlock with 15 minutes remaining when he played a one-two with Mats Hummels and scored off the far post from a tight angle.
The 21-year-old midfielder went down under Ermin Bicakcic’s challenge to earn the penalty. Marco Reus converted the spot-kick in the 86th minute.
Photo: AFP
Braunschweig’s consolation in the 89th minute came from Kevin Kratz, though his effort from Mirko Boland’s corner took a deflection off Robert Lewandowski.
“Give it gas and have fun,” Hofmann said about his instructions from Juergen Klopp, who celebrated his 100th victory as Dortmund coach.
It was the first time since Klopp took over in 2008 that Dortmund have started the season with two wins.
Off-season signing Henrikh Mkhitaryan made his Bundesliga debut, but was twice thwarted on the line by Braunschweig goalkeeper Daniel Davari in the second half.
“The most important thing today was that we won the game,” Mkhitaryan said.
Dortmund started well, dominating possession and not allowing Braunschweig any space or time on the ball, but once the visitors had weathered the storm, Klopp’s side seemed to run out of ideas.
Indeed, Norman Theuerkauf nearly scored in a rare burst forward for Braunschweig in the 33rd minute, when his volley from a rebound flew narrowly wide of the right post.
Braunschweig remained organized defensively after the break, but Dortmund increased the pressure and the breakthrough, when it came, was deserved.
Braunschweig were left to rue their second defeat in as many games on their return to the top flight after 28 years.
“We played a good game again, but again it’s the wrong result. It’s very disappointing,” Braunschweig captain Dennis Kruppke said.
Earlier, Japan international midfielder Hiroshi Kiyotake struck late to salvage a 2-2 draw for Nuremberg over Hertha BSC, denying the newly promoted visitors two wins from two games.
“We left two points behind,” Hertha coach Jos Luhukay said. “We had the game completely under control in the second half.”
Kiyotake scored with a free-kick in the 89th minute, 10 minutes after a penalty by substitute Ronny looked to have given Hertha their first win in Nuremberg for a decade.
Nuremberg striker Josip Drmic opened the scoring in the 40th minute when Daniel Ginczek did well to hold off two defenders and set him up.
Ginczek had already struck the post with a header.
Sami Allagui equalized with a deflected effort in the 61st minute when his shot bounced off Berkay Dabanli’s chest beyond Nuremberg goalkeeper Raphael Schaefer.
Hertha midfielder Alexander Baumjohann had the chance to make it 2-1 minutes later, only to shoot straight at Schaefer.
“I can live with the point,” Baumjohann said. “The coach sent a signal with [substitutes] Ronny and Sandro [Wagner]. We wanted to win.”
Baumjohann was somewhat fortunate to be on the pitch after shoving Javier Pinola in the face in retaliation as the two went head-to-head in disagreement. Both players were shown yellow cards in the 53rd minute.
They were involved again for Hertha’s penalty, when Baumjohann went down under Pinola’s challenge.
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