2. Bundesliga: Eintracht Braunschweig shower Magdeburg with half-dozen goals

Eintracht Braunschweig beat 1. FC Magdeburg 6-1 away from home on matchday 1 of 2. Bundesliga. The home fans were full of spirit for the new season ahead of kickoff, but they suffered one of their heaviest defeats against the club that finished below them last term.

After a slow start to the game, the visitors took the lead with the game’s first shot on goal. Aaron Opoku produced an expert finish from Max Marie’s incisive pass. The 21-year-old created another goal five minutes later with a first-time pass leaving Jan Urbich one-on-one with Dominik Reimann.

Another five minutes later, the Gladbach loanee scored his second goal in his 2. Bundesliga debut. Fellow new signing Samuele Di Benedetto gave the assist as Urbich once again beat hapless Reimann with Magdeburg’s defense all over the place.

If it wasn’t already impossible to pull a comeback, Magdeburg faced the next setback as Herbert Bockhorn was sent off with the first red card of the 2. Bundesliga season after a needless challenge on Fabio Di Michele Sánchez.

There was still time for one more goal before the break as Mehmet Aydın, who scored the only goal of the game when the two teams met in last season’s opener, converted from the spot after Luka Hyryläinen’s tug of shirt was spotted by VAR.

Magdeburg pulled one back with a brilliant counterattack early in the second-half that involved Barış Atik and Mateusz Żukowski. The Polish striker netted his 18 goals in only 22 2. Bundesliga appearances after yet another assist from Atik.

However, Braunschweig immediately responded with their fifth as Di Benedetto added a goal to his debut assist with a brilliant finish. Florian Flick scored the final goal of the day at the hour-mark, with a free header after Reimann’s poor attempt at clearing Di Benedetto’s corner-kick.

Unless there will be another big scoreline from the remaining four matches this week, the two teams will be at either end of the standings. Braunschweig will hope to continue their outstanding start at home against Bochum next week, while Magdeburg travel to newly-promoted Osnabrück.