New signing Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang enjoyed a dream Bundesliga debut on Saturday, scoring a hat- trick to steer last year's runners-up Borussia Dortmund to a 4-0 win at Augsburg in their first league match of the season.
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The weekend was also marked by controversy as Hoffenheim were denied a Kevin Volland goal in their 2-2 draw against Nuremberg despite replays showing that the ball crossed the line before bouncing out.
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The incident is bound to raise the issue of goal-line technology in Germany, which the country's soccer federation has said it will not use until at least 2015. Gabon international Aubameyang, who joined from France's St Etienne for a reported 13 million euros ($ 17.36 million) in July, put the visitors ahead with a diving header in the 24th minute and slotted home from the left midway through the second half.
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The 24-year-old completed his remarkable debut by picking up a superb Robert Lewandowski pass to round Augsburg goalkeeper Mohamed Amsif 11 minutes from time.
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"That was a super start for me," a beaming Aubameyang told reporters. "The intensity in the league here is much higher than in France. Our aim is to work hard and see what is possible in this season."
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Poland international Lewandowski, who had wanted to move to Bayern Munich but saw the transfer blocked by his club, got onto the scoresheet himself with an 86th minute penalty.
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"I told my players it would be tough and there are not many teams who will win 4-0 here," Dortmund coach Juergen Klopp told reporters. "We scored some great goals and finished off the game."
Borussia Dortmund winning games can never be a shock to me cos that team is just good like that. Their coach is awesome!