Newly promoted Paderborn score their first goals of the season and beat Hoffenheim 3-1

SC Paderborn 07 had gone into this match without a single goal to their name in the Bundesliga this season — a goalless draw at Mainz, then a 0-3 defeat at Borussia Dortmund. That drought ended emphatically, with Steffen Tigges among the scorers as newly promoted Paderborn beat TSG Hoffenheim 3-1 for their first win back in the top flight.

It was a result that flipped the form book for both sides. Hoffenheim arrived on the back of a 2-1 win over VfB Stuttgart, their first of the campaign after opening-weekend defeats to Cologne and Borussia Dortmund, and looked to be building some momentum. Instead they leaked three goals away from home, a reminder of the same defensive fragility that had already cost them six goals in their first three matches.

How the goals came

None of it came easily for the home side early on. Santiago Castañeda broke the deadlock in the 29th minute with a deflected effort from a corner routine — bundesliga.com's own model rated the chance at just a 5% probability of going in — and it arrived against the run of play, with Hoffenheim generating the better chances up to that point. Stefano Marino doubled the lead three minutes before half-time, guiding home a cross from Laurin Curda. Adam Daghim halved the deficit five minutes into the second half, finishing off an assist from Max Moerstedt, but Paderborn held their nerve and put the game away when substitute Tigges rose to meet a cross from Jonah Sticker with a header in the 69th minute.

A breakthrough for the newly promoted side

For Paderborn, the timing matters. Sides that come straight back up to the Bundesliga typically need a signature result early to settle nerves, and going three matches without scoring at all was starting to look ominous. Putting three past a top-flight defence, however patchy Hoffenheim's has been, gives Ralf Kettemann's squad something to build on heading into the international break.

The numbers behind the scoreline cut against Paderborn just as much as the run of play did — bundesliga.com's own expected-goals model had Hoffenheim producing 1.95 xG to Paderborn's 0.89, meaning the visitors created the better quality of chances and still left with nothing. Tigges, a 28-year-old German striker in his fourth Bundesliga appearance for the club this season, scored his first goal of the campaign with the header that sealed the win, and was named player of the match for his hold-up play throughout.

Form since the opening weekend

Paderborn's results since the opening day have swung wildly: a goalless draw at Mainz, then a 0-3 defeat at Borussia Dortmund without a goal to their name, and now a 3-1 win that alone produced as many goals as the first three matches combined. Hoffenheim's form has zig-zagged in the opposite direction — defeats to Cologne and Borussia Dortmund either side of a 2-1 win over VfB Stuttgart, then this loss at the Home Deluxe Arena, leaving them with three defeats and ten goals conceded from four matches.

What's next

The win completes Bundesliga matchday 4, with all nine games now played. It lifts Paderborn to 12th on 4 points with a goal difference of -2 — just one point clear of the relegation play-off place, currently held by Hamburger SV on 3 points. Hoffenheim drop to 14th, also on 3 points and level with the play-off place on points, staying above it only on goal difference (-3 to Hamburger SV's -11). Both sides return after the international break looking to build on where this result leaves them in the table.