Wolfsburg, Frankfurt start successful Bundesliga campaign

Berlin : Daniel Ginczek's late goal secured Wolfsburg a 2-1 win over Schalke whereas a clinical Frankfurt eased 2-0 past wasteful Freiburg in the first round in Germany's top flight Bundesliga.

The "Wolves" ensured a winning start into the season after beating 10-men Schalke 2-1 on home soil on Saturday, reports Xinhua news agency.

Both sides staged a lively opening period but Wolfsburg worked out the better opportunities. Maximilian Arnold pulled wide from a promising position before William tested Schalke goalkeeper Ralf Faehrmann in the 25th minute.

It came as no surprise that Wolfsburg broke the deadlock eight minutes later when John Anthony Brooks had all the time and space to head home Arnold's cross to the far post.

Wolfsburg gained momentum and pushed forward but failed to extend the lead before the break. Meanwhile things went from bad to worse for Schalke as Matija Nastasic saw a straight red card for a rude foul play in the 65th minute.

Despite having a numerical disadvantage, it were the visitors who restored parity out of the blue when Nabil Bentaleb converted a foul play penalty to make it 1-1 on the scoreboards with 85 minutes played.

Just when Schalke settled for a hard earned draw, Wolfsburg's substitute Daniel Ginczek snatched the late 2-1 winner in the dying minutes of the game to upset the visitors.

After two defeats in two different competitions, Eintracht Frankfurt sewed up a 2-0 win against Freiburg.

Freiburg started highly motivated and dictated the pace on the pitch but the opener was scored at the other end of the pitch and against the run of the game. Sebastien Haller's back heel pass allowed Nicolai Mueller to open the scoring with 10 minutes into the clash.

The hosts continued offensively minded but Nils Petersen failed to make the most of Jerome Gondorf's free kick into the area in the 22nd minute. Freiburg kept bowling but neither Florian Niederlechner nor Luca Waldschmidt were able to level the scores.

Frankfurt staged a clinical chance conversion and put the result beyond doubt with Sebastien Haller's late goal in the 82nd minute. Freiburg remained unimpressed and pressed for their consolation but Mike Frantz squandered two chances in the closing period.

Elsewhere, Hertha Berlin edged newly promoted Nuremberg on Vedad Ibisevic's sole goal.

Augsburg came from behind to beat Fortuna Dusseldorf on the second-half goals from Martin Hinteregger and Andre Hahn.

Werder Bremen shared the spoils with Hannover following a 1-1 draw and Borussia Monchengladbach overpowered Bayer Leverkusen 2-0.