Bundesliga Review: Wolfsburg make winning start, Cologne late show sinks Stuttgart

Wolfsburg were made to work hard as they kicked off their Bundesliga campaign with a 2-1 victory over Eintracht Frankfurt at the Volkswagen Arena on Sunday.

All three goals came in the space of six minutes during an action-packed opening to the game, with Ivan Perisic and Bas Dost on target for last season’s runners-up before Frankfurt replied almost immediately through debutant Stefan Reinartz.

Kevin De Bruyne, who has been repeatedly linked with a big-money move to Manchester City, had a relatively quiet game for Wolfsburg and was substituted with 15 minutes remaining as Dieter Hecking’s men held on to claim three points.

Visiting striker Haris Seferovic had a goal ruled out for offside before Wolfsburg moved ahead in the 13th minute.

Max Kruse’s ball from the left found Perisic all alone at the far post and the reported Inter target made no mistake with a header back across goal.

Frankfurt fell further behind four minutes later thanks to a close-range strike from Dost, but were given a lifeline as close-season recruit Reinartz converted a cross from fellow debutant Luc Castaignos.

However, Reinartz’s goal was to prove the last of the game as Wolfsburg did enough to begin the league season with a win.

Sunday’s other Bundesliga fixture also featured a flurry of goals in quick succession as Cologne won 3-1 at Stuttgart.

An eventful opening saw Cologne’s Matthias Lehmann and Stuttgart duo Daniel Didavi and Christian Gentner strike the woodwork inside the first 12 minutes.

Goalkeeper Timo Horn and defender Jonas Hector produced heroics to keep Cologne on level terms before Anthony Modeste opened the scoring for the visitors from the penalty spot in the 75th minute, after being brought down by Przemyslaw Tyton.

Simon Zoller swiftly doubled the lead, but then brought down Filip Kostic for a penalty that Didavi converted to make it 2-1. However, Cologne made sure of victory when Yuya Osako rounded off a stoppage-time counter-attack.