At Werder Bremen, a rowdy Borussia Dortmund were held to a scoreless draw. Maximilian Beier was their sole recognized striker going into the match as Sebastien Haller was loaned away to La Liga team Leganes late on Friday. It will take many weeks for Serhou Guirassy, who signed in the summer to take Niclas Fuellkrug's spot after the Germany striker left for West Ham, Guirassy is still recovering from a knee injury.

Dortmund controlled possession but were unable to score, and after center-back Nico Schlotterbeck was sent off, they were reduced to one man for the last 17 minutes of play. After challenging Justin Njinmah, Schlotterbeck was given a second yellow card, leaving his team with just ten players. In the end, both teams received one point apiece. In another match, Stuttgart, the unexpected runners-up from the previous campaign, lost another game where they had a chance to win and ended up tying 3–3 with Mainz after letting an equalizer in stoppage time.