Football
PA Sport 10y

Bayern Munich beat Stuttgart, Shinji Kagawa nets in Borussia Dortmund win

Bayern Munich returned to winning ways in preparation for their opening Champions League fixture against Manchester City in midweek with a 2-0 win over Stuttgart.

Mario Gotze gave the defending Bundesliga champions the lead just shy of the half-hour mark and Franck Ribery celebrated his first appearance of the season with the second goal to settle Bayern's nerves five minutes from time.

The only concern for Bayern was the sight of defender Holger Badstuber limping away with an injury which seems certain to rule him out of Wednesday's clash with City.

Shinji Kagawa made a dream return to Borussia Dortmund, scoring on his second debut for the club in a 3-1 win over Freiburg.

The Japan international, who went the entire 2013-14 campaign without scoring for Manchester United, needed just 40 minutes of his first game back in yellow and black to score on his return to the Bundesliga.

Seven minutes earlier, he had played a hand in Adrian Ramos putting Dortmund in front, while Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang added a third.

Oliver Sorg grabbed a consolation at the death for Freiburg, who remain without a win this season.

Shinji Okazaki became the Bundesliga's all-time most prolific Japanese goalscorer as Mainz celebrated their first win of the season at the sixth attempt with a 3-1 victory away to Hertha Berlin.

Okazaki started and finished the scoring with former Hertha forward Sami Allagui also on target for Kasper Hjulmand's men.

Ronny made things interesting from the penalty spot five minutes from time, but Okazaki struck his 28th Bundesliga goal to move two clear of compatriot Yasuhiko Okudera, who amassed 26 during his time in Germany.

Ivica Olic salvaged Wolfsburg a late 1-1 draw in Hoffenheim and earned his coach Dieter Hecking some breathing room ahead of their return to Europeam competition next week.

Olic levelled in the last minute of the game after Anthony Modeste had given the hosts the lead early in the second half.

The Wolves ended the game with only 10 men with Josuha Guilavogui booked twice in less than 10 minutes, although Hoffenheim also played the final minute of stoppage time a man down as Ermin Bicakcic limped off injured with all substitutes used.

Newly-promoted pair Paderborn and Cologne extended their unbeaten starts to the campaign with a goalless draw.

The two teams had both won one and drawn one of their opening two Bundesliga fixtures and were happy not to lose that proud unbeaten record at the Paderborn Arena.

The hosts had the better chances, but Cologne kept a clean sheet for the third game in a row to pick up another point towards survival.

Schalke suffered a significant setback ahead of their trip to Chelsea in the Champions League on Wednesday by going down to a 4-1 defeat at Borussia Monchengladbach.

Jens Keller's men were beaten for the second time this season after being served a counter-attacking masterclass by their North-Rhine Westphalian rivals, who took a two-goal lead thanks to Andre Hahn's first goals for the club.

Eric-Maxim Choupo-Moting pulled a goal back from the penalty spot, but Max Kruse restored the hosts' two-goal advantage before Raffael added the fourth.

The defeat will increase the pressure on Keller going into their Champions League opener against the Premier League leaders at Stamford Bridge.

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