Champions Dortmund held as Eintracht Frankfurt set early Bundesliga pace

Bundesliga champions Borussia Dortmund were held 1-1 at Nuremberg as newly promoted Eintracht Frankfurt set the pace after a 4-0 win over nine-man Hoffenheim Saturday.

Dortmund were expected to secure their second win of the season, but fell behind just after the half hour mark as Czech star Tomas Pekhart headed home for Nuremberg.

The visitors were level before halftime when Poland captain Jakub Blaszczykowski equalized from close range but they were unable to grab a winner in the second half.

Frankfurt continued their dream start back in the German top flight by following last weekend’s 2-1 win over Bayer Leverkusen with a rout of hosts Hoffenheim.

Alexander Meier and Pirmin Schwegler gave Frankfurt a 2-0 lead by the interval.

Hoffenheim’s hopes of a recovery were ended when midfielder Sejad Salihovic and defender Stephan Schroeck were shown red in quick succession, both for second yellow cards.

Meier grabbed his second from the penalty spot and Martin Lanig headed home a fourth for the visitors.

“I would be disappointed if we aren’t German champions now,” Frankfurt coach Armin Veh said with tongue in cheek after their fine win.

The Royal Blues of Schalke joined Dortmund on four points from two games with a 3-1 home win over Augsburg.

Kyriakos Papadopoulos headed them ahead on 33 minutes before United States midfielder Jermaine Jones grabbed the second just after the break.

The third was scored by Dutch striker Klaas-Jan Huntelaar with a header before Augsburg’s late consolation from Torsten Oehrl.

Leverkusen secured their first points with a 2-0 win at home to Freiburg, while Dutch star Rafael van der Vaart, who has rejoined Hamburg from Tottenham Hotspur, watched from the stands as his new team lost 2-0 at Werder Bremen in the north German derby.

Bavarian giants Bayern Munich are in action Sunday against Stuttgart looking to back up their opening day win.