The Bundesliga is off and running and this weekend delivered the second round of league matches for the 2010/11 season. The British press will be keeping a particularly keen eye on the competition this campaign as they wait to see if Steve McClaren can follow up his successful two-year tenure at FC Twente with another league title in a new country.
Whilst McClaren's new employers Wolfsburg should be in the mix of the title race, the focus will also be on some usual suspects. Lois van Gaal's Bayern Munich will be the team for everyone else to beat after they secured a domestic league and cup double last season and almost claimed the Champions League as well. Another strong contender is Schalke 04, runners-up last time out and managed by Felix Magath- a man who has already won the Bundesliga 3 times with Bayern and Wolfsburg.
Outside of these there are several clubs that with a bit of luck could feasibly sustain a title bid for a domestic league that has been fiercely competitive in recent seasons. The most notable of these are Werder Bremen, Bayer Leverkusen and Borussia Dortmund.
Werder Bremen may have lost Mesut Özil after his star shone brightly during the World Cup, but they have brought in Marko Arnautović. A youthful forward the Austrian international was groomed by McClaren at FC Twente and was impressive during the Englishman's first season there. Last season his rising stock led to a loan move to Inter Milan who had an option on buying him this summer, luckily for Werder Bremen he was frozen out and the opportunity came their way instead. Today he scored twice in their 4-2 win over FC Köln to get his and Bremen's season off and running.
Leverkusen for their part acquired Michael Ballack on a free from Chelsea. It may not be clear if he is still the German captain or not, but what is clear is that at 33 years of age he still has the drive and determination for one last hurrah back in the Bundesliga and his influence could be crucial.
Of course the most high profile move in the Bundesliga over the summer was that of Real Madrid legend Raúl leaving the Bernabéu for the new surroundings of Schalke. There is no doubting the Spaniards ability and though he may be 33, like Ballack he could become a very canny signing and one that could propel Schalke 04 that extra bit towards a Bundesliga title. His experience in the Champions League will also provide his new team with an extra edge in their upcoming fixtures in Group B.
As for McClaren and Wolfsburg, they yesterday signed Diego from Juventus for a fee of £12.7M only a season after the Italian side had signed him for almost £21M. A big loss for Juventus then and a big bonus for McClaren, the Brazilian play maker had established himself at Werder Bremen before his big move to Italy and should provide several goals and assists for Wolfsburg now that he's back in familiar surroundings.
That first goal came today as Wolfsburg attempted to immediately put behind them their unfortunate opening day defeat away at Bayern Munich last weekend (when they went down 2-1 to a stoppage-time winner from Bastian Schweinsteiger). This afternoon's opponents at home were Mainz 05, a club who finished 9th last season and have spent most of their history outside of the top flight.
Things started incredibly well for McClaren as his team surged to a 3-0 lead within half an hour where they were stylish and rampant in their play. A brace from the highly rated Edin Džeko made it 3 goals in 2 league games so far, to add to the 48 he's scored in the last two seasons! Diego then followed this by grabbing himself a debut goal when left one on one with the keeper.
Mainz pulled one back before half time when a shot from Rasmussen went through a crowd of players and in off the Wolfsburg post, but a second half comeback was to stun the home crowd and the former England boss. Moments after the break and Mainz had reduced the arrears to one goal after a low ball found Soto free in the box, ten minutes later and the score was incredibly level after a slight deflection steered a 25 yarder from Andre Schurrle into the bottom right hand corner.
Wolfsburg tried to reassert their dominance of the opening half but were instead caught again when Adam Szalai had time to stroke home the winner from the edge of the box with four minutes remaining. Somehow they had contrived to blow a dominant 3-0 lead into a 4-3 home defeat! A bad day then for McClaren but at least he knows that his team is capable of the flair that he had at FC Twente and with Diego now on board they can look onwards and upwards.
The silver lining for Wolfsburg was that both Bayern Munich and Shalke 04 also lost this weekend. Last night the promoted champions of the 2nd Bundesliga- Kaiserslautern shocked Bayern Munich. They may have spent four seasons in the second tier but Kaiserslautern appear keen to make up for lost time, their 2-0 home defeat of Bayern puts them second in the Bundesliga table with two wins from two. Bayern meanwhile were left to reflect on missing a host of chances in each half and being punished by conceding 2 goals in a minute shortly before half time, a sucker-punch of a result indeed!
Shalke lost 2-1 at home to Hannover 96 and will be concerned at having lost both of their opening fixtures after losing by the same score line at Hamburg last weekend. We should expect a riposte in their next game but it will be difficult as they go away to face the early league leaders TSG 1899 Hoffenheim, who have also won their opening two matches against Werder Bremen (4-1) and St Pauli today 1-0.
Some of you should remember Hoffenheim from the season before last when they made such a dramatic entrance in their first ever season in the Bundesliga. In 2008/09 they led the championship at the season's halfway stage and impressed many observers with their slick brand of football, which appears to have returned for now.
Finally, mentions for Hamburg who with Ruud van Nistelroy have made a good start to the season in winning their first two games. Last weekend the Dutchman scored both goals in the defeat of Schalke and today he scored again as his team came back from a goal down to defeat Eintracht Frankfurt 3-1 with two strikes in the last ten minutes.
Two fixtures in and the Bundesliga again looks like it will keep the fans intrigued this season as results and form turns this way and that. What is certain is that McClaren will want to forget the reverse his team suffered against Mainz 05, if he didn't know what to expect from this league yet he certainly does now!