Bayern Munich recovered from conceding a record-equalling goal after nine seconds as substitute Robert Lewandowski’s last-minute strike secured a 2-1 Bundesliga victory at Hoffenheim on Saturday.
Champions Bayern had also been reduced to 10 men following the second-half dismissal of defender Jerome Boateng.
Bayern were in command throughout and hit the woodwork twice but they needed the speed of winger Douglas Costa and the scoring prowess of Lewandowski to grab the three points.
The Poland striker tapped the ball into the net following a superb run and cut-back from Brazilian Costa after the hosts had missed a 74th-minute penalty.
Bayern, who had defender Mehdi Benatia injured in the first half, were stunned straight from the kick off when David Alaba’s bad back pass to Jerome Boateng was intercepted by Kevin Volland and the Hoffenheim forward netted.
Volland’s strike matched the previous fastest Bundesliga goal scored by Bayer Leverkusen’s Karim Bellarabi against Borussia Dortmund last season.
Bayern, who have never lost to Hoffenheim in 15 matches, gradually upped the tempo and Costa floated in a low cross after a dizzying run down the left, keeper Oliver Baumann cleared but Thomas Mueller scored on the rebound to level four minutes before the break.
Chile international Arturo Vidal rattled the crossbar with a long-range effort in the 66th minute and Baumann denied Lewandowski’s point-blank effort as Bayern remained fully in control without making their dominance count.
TOO PASSIVE
Boateng was booked twice in two minutes, the second time for a handling offence which led to a penalty that Eugen Polanski powered against the post.
Hoffenheim then started being too passive and Bayern went agonisingly close in the 88th minute when Baumann denied a double effort from Lewandowski before a Thomas Mueller header scraped the post.
Lewandowski, however, was not done yet and he notched the winner after good work from the quickfire Costa inside the box.
Bayern have six points from two matches, the same as Leverkusen who beat Hanover 96 1-0 courtesy of Hakan Calhanoglu’s superb free kick.
VfL Wolfsburg, last season’s runners-up, needed a late equaliser from Nicklas Bendtner to draw 1-1 at Cologne who had taken a 30th-minute lead through Simon Zoller.
Attacking midfielder Kevin De Bruyne, a transfer target for Manchester City, was lacklustre but the Wolves still made it four points from two matches.
Schalke 04 came from a goal down to draw 1-1 against promoted Darmstadt 98, Germany international Julian Draxler scoring his first goal in 10 months to equalise right after the restart.
Hamburg SV struck twice in the final six minutes through substitute Pierre-Michel Lasogga and Johan Djourou to rally from 2-1 down and beat VfB Stuttgart 3-2, their first win of the season.
Stuttgart went down to 10 men when Florian Klein was sent off following two bookings early in the second half.
