Salmomon Kalou's penalty earned Hertha Berlin a 1-0 victory over Augsburg on an afternoon when both sides finished with 10 men at the WWK Arena.
After surprising many sides on the way to claiming fifth spot last season, the pressure was on the home side to take charge of the match in the early stages, but it was Hertha who threatened first when Salomon Kalou held off a couple of challenges before rattling the post.
Augsburg improved as the first half progressed, but chances were tough to come by until Hong Jeong-Ho met a Tobias Werner corner with a powerful header that forced Thomas Kraft into a fine save.
However, their progress was halted just before the interval when Raul Bobadilla was dismissed for foolishly picking up a second yellow card, despite protests from the home fans.
Another setback followed for Augsburg early in the second half when Ragnar Klavan brought down Kalou inside the box and it was the Ivorian who stepped up to hand the visitors the lead with a calm penalty.
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After being gifted the advantage by two mistakes from the hosts, Hertha opened the door to Augsburg with a moment of madness from Roy Beerens, who collected two yellow cards in the space of 11 minutes with late challenges and offered a lifeline to Markus Weinzierl's men.
Alexander Esswein came closest to finding the equaliser for Augsburg when he unleashed a powerful free kick which rattled the post before the Hertha defence reacted quickly to clear the danger.
The pressure continued be piled on by the hosts, but Kraft was the hero in stoppage time as he kept out Esswein's strike before getting a strong hand to a Sascha Molders header as Hertha collected all three points.
Callum Mulvihill
