BERLIN — Shots were fired at the Hertha Berlin team bus Sunday a day before the Bundesliga side play its German Cup clash at Bielefeld in an incident which overshadowed the first round of matches. “It's crazy. We consider this as attempted murder,” said shocked Hertha team manager Michael Preetz, who revealed that only the driver had been in the bus at the time and had miraculously escaped unscathed. “Our driver was going from the hotel to the train station at Bielefeld to collect the team,” explained Preetz. “An unidentified person on a motorbike fired at the bus,” he said, adding that “the type of firearm used has not yet been determined.” A photo posted by the club on Twitter showed the impact of the bullet which smashed a hole in the windscreen at the level of the driver's head. The incident overshadowed the first round of matches where Bayern Munich got its Cup campaign off to a 3-1 winning start over amateur fifth-division side Noettingen as Bundesliga rivals Hamburg fell at the first hurdle for the second consecutive year. Hamburg, which open its Bundesliga campaign at champion Bayern next Friday, fell 3-2 after extra time at fourth-division Carl Zeiss Jena. Hamburg join newly-promoted Ingolstadt, who lost 2-1 at fourth-division Unterhaching, and Hoffenheim, who lost 2-0 at second-division Munich 1860, as the elite victims. Four days after their 1-0 victory over Real Madrid in the Audi Cup, Bayern overran its amateur rival, playing at Karlsruhe Stadium. New Chilean signing Arturo Vidal opened the scoring for Bayern with a penalty after six minutes but ten minutes later Noettingen equalized thanks to striker Niklas Hecht-Zirpel, a young student of sports and mathematics. Mario Goetze put Bayern back in front just a minute later with Robert Lewandowski sealing the winner ten minutes later as Munich coach Pep Guardiola brought on Dutch midfielder Arjen Robben after 55 minutes. Goalless draw in opener Spurred on by Benjamin Lecomte's saves, Lorient put on a resilient display to hold Lyon to a 0-0 draw in the French league Sunday after Bordeaux and Saint-Etienne started the new campaign with losses. After a string of worrying results in its preseason games, including a 6-0 thrashing by Arsenal, Lyon showed more cohesion and created the better chances but failed to take them. Earlier, Reims scored two goals in the final 10 minutes to upset Bordeaux 2-1 while Saint-Etienne lost at Toulouse by the same scoreline. After Whabi Khazri put the hosts ahead in the 42nd minute, Bordeaux could not hold on to its lead as Nicolas De Preville leveled with 10 minutes left. Bordeaux then paid the price for its poor defending when Theoson Jordan Siebatcheu scored the winner from close range in the 88th after some confusion in the box, sealing Reims' first win at Bordeaux in 40 years. Saint-Etienne also wasted a one-goal lead after captain Loic Perrin headed home the opener at Toulouse. But Saint-Etienne was punished from set pieces as direct free kicks from Martin Braithwaite and Wissam Ben Yedder grabbed the points for the home team. — Agencies
