The warnings that emerged during the Club World Cup have Borussia Dortmund fans worried about the 2025/26 season. On the opening day of the Bundesliga season, Nico Kovac's side came close to securing three points, but a major lapse in concentration in the final minutes saw St. Pauli find the net and secure a 3-3 draw in the best game of the weekend in Germany.
Dortmund needed 34 minutes in the first half to open the scoring, when Guirassy took advantage of Sabitzer's cross and curled a shot past Nikola Vasilj. Shortly afterwards, Guirassy had the chance to score a second from Ademeyi's penalty, but Vasilj made an excellent save to prevent the lead being extended, giving St. Pauli the momentum to react early in the second half. Hountondji's header equalized after a cross from Daniel Sinani.
Despite conceding an equalizer away from home, Dortmund showed great composure to get back into the lead with Waldmar Anton scoring a very unlikely goal. Taking advantage of the attacking impetus, the third goal came soon after, with Julian Brandt scoring after an excellent long pass from Pascal Grob, who is becoming more and more of an assist specialist.
Borussia Dortmund give away lead in incredible fashion
From that moment on, it looked like Borussia Dortmund would be able to secure the lead, but Nico Kovac's side conceded a second goal with less than five minutes to go after Filippo Mané brought down Cessay in the box and was shown a straight red card, as well as conceding a penalty. Sinani struck with great firmness to reduce the deficit before half-time.
With the numerical advantage on the pitch, St. Pauli took heart and went in search of an equalizer with a strong final push, which ended with the equalizer on the last play of the game, when Eric Smith, despite being a defender, surged forward to unleash a shot from outside the area to score a stunning goal. Bayern Munich, meanwhile, end the first round with more points than their direct rivals in the title race, showing a considerable disparity.