2. Bundesliga: Nürnberg off to flying start as Zoma bags hat-trick to down Dresden

Miroslav Klose’s men kicked off their campaign in style, with a hat-trick from Mohamed Ali Zoma proving decisive against a toothless Dresden attack.

Nürnberg got their campaign off to the perfect start just nine minutes in, taking the lead through Zoma. Finn Becker slipped the forward in down the left-hand side, with Zoma driving into the penalty area before calmly slotting the ball past Tim Schreiber to make it 1-0.

There was little in the way of chances for much of the remainder of the half. Dresden grew into the game as Nürnberg allowed them more possession, but the visitors were simply unable to trouble Jan Reichert’s goal.

However, in the third and final minute of added time, Nürnberg delivered a dagger. A free-kick bounced out to Tim Janisch, whose shot was parried by Schreiber straight into the path of Zoma, who poked home the rebound to grab his second.

The goal was initially disallowed, but after a lengthy VAR check, the referee overturned his decision to give the hosts a 2-0 lead at the break.

Nürnberg continued to control proceedings following the restart, with Dresden unable to generate any real opportunities. The visitors were limited to pot shots from distance, all of which were comfortably dealt with by Reichert.

The hosts were handed an opportunity to wrap up the game with 15 minutes remaining when Rafael Lubach was felled inside the area. Zoma stepped up from the spot, but although Schreiber saved his penalty, the forward was alert enough to poke home the rebound and complete his hat-trick to put Nürnberg out of sight at 3-0.

That put Dresden to bed once and for all, with the visitors appearing to run out of ideas in attack. Nürnberg saw out the remaining 15 minutes and five minutes of added time with ease to claim a convincing opening-day victory.