Little Hoffenheim still flying high in Bundesliga

Bundesliga newcomers Hoffenheim beat Borussia Monchengladbach 1-0 on Saturday to stay top of the table while 10-man champions Bayern Munich could only draw 1-1 at Borussia Dortmund.

Hoffenheim, who have climbed up four divisions to reach the Bundesliga, scored their winner through Vedad Ibisevic, also the league’s joint top scorer with three goals.

Striker Luca Toni returned for Bayern but he could not propel them to victory.

Dortmund went ahead in the ninth minute through Jakub Blaszczykowski but Munich had to wait till the 76th minute for the equaliser through Tim Borowski, scoring his first goal for the club after joining from Werder Bremen.

Schalke 04 took second following their 1-1 draw at Werder Bremen and Hertha Berlin lie third after getting the same score in their fixture against Arminia Bielefeld.

However it was a chance lost for Bayern to gain ground in their first away match of the season having only drawn 2-2 against Hamburg last week.

About 80,000 supporters were packed into Dortmund’s stadium, renowned as one of the most vibrant in the league due to their passionate supporters.

And those fans were celebrating early on when Poland international Blaszczykowski, known as Kuba by team-mates, found the net with a superbly crafted shot.

Worse was to follow for the visitors a few minutes later when Bayern captain Mark van Bommel was sent off for his second yellow card, leaving Munich to play most of the match with just 10 men.

Bayern coach Jurgen Klinsmann said afterwards: “This was a match rich with emotion and very captivating. We wanted to win but we merited at least a point because we played with 10 men for more than an hour. We’ll take three points against Berlin next week.”

However the day belonged to high-flying Hoffenheim. Hoffenheim topped the league after the first weekend of the campaign with a 3-0 win over Cottbus and their 1-0 victory over Monchengladbach confirmed their top form.

Hoffenheim are backed by millionaire German businessman Dietmar Hopp who made a fortune developing computer software.