The second weekend of matches in the Bundesliga produced a few more goals than the first matchday. As teams see a bulk of their players disappear to represent their countries in the first international break of the campaign, all 18 sides can reflect on the opening rounds of matches with either concern or joy.
Four sides possess a 100% record. Surprisingly, Hamburger SV and Hannover 96 have won their first two matches. Considered among the relegation favourites at the start of the season, both Markus Gisdol and Andre Breitenreiter must be absolutely delighted with how things have gone so far.
Less so surprising is the 100% records that Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich hold. These two will be expected to be near the top by the time May 2018 starts.
Here is a round-up of the best that Matchday 2 had to offer.
Hamburg prevail on a crazy Cologne evening
Matchday 2 began with a fine win for Hamburger SV away in Cologne. Their 3-1 victory was down to clinical finishing and making the most of sloppy defending from their opponents. Both Andre Hahn and Bobby Wood profited from slack marking at set-pieces to put the visitors 2-0 ahead at the interval. Although Mergim Mavraj was harshly sent off for two yellow cards on his first return to the RheinEnergieStadion, Hamburg held onto their lead until stoppage time.
Dane Frederik Sorensen pulled a goal back but in the 103rd minute of the contest, Gisdol's side sealed their success.
Albin Ekdal deserves great credit for dispossessing Jonas Hector. The Swede then went on a wonderful solo run, leaving Yuya Osako trailing in his wake. After embarrassing Hector for the second time in a matter of seconds, he squared the ball for Lewis Holtby to finish the contest off.
In terms of a celebration, Holtby might need to work on his dance moves! However, he will be delighted to make a telling contribution considering he is out of the starting XI at the moment.
To promote the crazy feel to the match, there was a catalogue of injuries. Marcel Risse and Aaron Hunt both limped out before half-time and in the second half, referee Felix Brych also had to withdraw, leading to the lengthy 13 minutes of time added on at the end of the game.
Considering Hamburg were dumped out of the DFB-Pokal a fortnight ago to lowly VfL Osnabruck, this is a fantastic response by Gisdol's side.
Dortmund and Bayern show their class
Bayern Munich beat SV Werder Bremen 2-0 on Saturday afternoon and frankly, it could have been by a far greater margin too. It looked like being one of those days for Carlo Ancelotti's side but rarely does that happen to the reigning champions. They stayed patient and this was finally rewarded in the 71st minute by Robert Lewandowski's cheeky back heel after fine work from Kingsley Coman. Replays suggested Lewandowski was offside when the ball was played but the Pole's instincts were once again evident. Three minutes later, he made the most of the gaps appearing in the host's defensive line to take his goal tally to three strikes in two matches.
The Bavarians are yet to hit top gear this season but they are winning and that's what really counts.
Borussia Dortmund matched this identical result in the Saturday evening kick-off. In Peter Bosz's first home match at Signal Iduna Park, the 'Yellow Submarine' had far too much quality for Hertha Berlin, beating the capital club 2-0. Although Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang added to his goalscoring tally, the performance of the match came from Nuri Sahin.
Almost the forgotten man at Dortmund thanks to a string of luckless injuries, the Turkish midfielder sparkled with an assist and a stunning right-foot volley to seal the victory. Liverpool FC fans might remember Sahin being a bit of a flop during a brief loan spell at Anfield in 2013 but you don't win a move to Real Madrid by accident.
That happened to Sahin once and hopefully, he has escaped the countless setbacks in his career and will find the form that won him his initial move to the Spanish capital six years ago.
Dortmund did finally sell Ousmane Dembele to Barcelona on Monday and quickly acted to bring in the Ukrainian playmaker Andriy Yarmolenko as his replacement. On this evidence, Dembele won't be missed too greatly.
Newly promoted sides shine
Hannover 96 became the fourth side to remain with a perfect record after defeating FC Schalke 04 1-0 in the final game of the weekend. It was a nice result for Hannover boss Breitenreiter. Sacked by Schalke in May 2016 despite finishing fifth, he is re-establishing his managerial credentials and doing it well too.
Hannover are unbeaten under his management.
It was a dream debut too for their new star striker, Jonatas. The 28-year-old became the club's record buy last week from Russian outfit Rubin Kazan and he made an immediate repayment on his transfer fee. Schalke only had themselves to blame for the lapse in concentration that cost them anything from this match. Thilo Kehrer's poor pass saw Marvin Bakalorz rob Naldo of possession. Bakalorz spotted Jonatas in an excellent position and he finished smartly to send the HDI-Arena into raptures.
For Benedikt Howedes, his future as a Schalke player looks grim. Stripped of the captain's armband a fortnight ago, Howedes was an unused substitute on Sunday and looks destined to leave the club.
Serie A giants Juventus have expressed an interest but had an opening bid rejected. It is likely they will come back though with an improved offer before Thursday's transfer deadline.
VfB Stuttgart bounced back from their opening weekend loss to inflict a second successive defeat on 1. FSV Mainz 05. Holger Badstuber scored the only goal in the 1-0 win. A Badstuber goal is a rare commodity in football. You have to go back to December 2009 for his last Bundesliga goal. To show how long ago that was, Gordon Brown was UK Prime Minister, Portsmouth was in the Premier League and an internet campaign took Rage Against The Machine to the Christmas No.1, beating X-Factor winner Joe McElderry.
Fast Finnbogason
Alfred Finnbogason loves scoring in the first minute of games for FC Augsburg. He now has scored the club's fastest two goals in their Bundesliga history after netting inside a minute in Saturday's 2-2 draw with Borussia Monchengladbach. His 35-second strike at the weekend surpassed his timed effort against VfL Wolfsburg in April 2016. However, Augsburg needed a late leveller from substitute Sergio Cordova to rescue a point. It was a match full of meaty challenges. Augsburg skipper Daniel Baier was slightly fortunate not to see red for a nasty elbow into the face of Christoph Kramer during the match.
It also finished 2-2 at the BayArena between Bayer 04 Leverkusen and TSG 1899 Hoffenheim.
Mark Uth's 70th-minute equaliser ensured the points were shared in a scrappy contest between two sides yet to find top form so far this season. At least Leverkusen did score a penalty in this match. They had real problems converting from 12-yards last season but did score their first spot-kick of this season. Full-back Wendell did the necessary, via a bit of help from the post.
Elsewhere, RB Leipzig was back to their best with a 4-1 thrashing of SC Freiburg. Timo Werner scored twice and there were two assists from the impressive Jean-Kevin Augustin. Lastly, Daniel Didavi's 22nd-minute goal ensured VfL Wolfsburg won 1-0 away to Eintracht Frankfurt. Frankfurt was particularly wasteful all afternoon, squandering a host of opportunities as the visitors' rode their luck to make it three successive wins against Niko Kovac's team.
After the international break, things start to heat up. Matchday 3 highlights include Hamburger SV's home match with RB Leipzig, SV Werder Bremen's trip to Hertha BSC and a meeting between pupil and teacher as Julian Nagelsmann's Hoffenheim welcome Ancelotti's Bayern Munich to his lair in just under a fortnight's time.
